Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Re-Write)
by CrashCobalt92
Summary: You know how the story goes: An 11 year old boy finds out that he's a wizard from a friendly half-giant named Hagrid, Hagrid tells Harry what happened to his parents and who Voldemort is, Harry begins his journey to Hogwarts, but the story changes after Harry befriends a pair of wizards starting at Hogwarts also. How will their meeting change this story? Told from OCs' perspective.
1. Crossing Paths

Chapter One: Crossing Paths

"Riley." an older male voice spoke. "Riley!"

A young boy, no older than eleven, sat back in his seat, his eyelids shut hiding any trace of his blue eyes, with his little hands gripping his thighs for dear life, and his brown work boot-clad feet firmly planted on the floor of the plane's interior. This hadn't been little Riley Cross' first time on an airplane, but he was still terrified of heights. His father, mother, and older brother had tried time and time again to help him get over this little phobia, but to no avail.

"Riley." the male voice rang out again.

"I'm not looking, dad." Riley responded, sternly.

"Son, it's beautiful out there." his father told him. "Just think of it like being on a ship, only the clouds are the water."

Professor Timothy Cross sighed, and shook his head. His son could be so stubborn sometimes. He and his son wore matching outfits, which consisted of an open beige, short-sleeved, button-up shirt over a white t-shirt, khaki shorts, and white socks and brown boots. Both of them had blue eyes, and short brown hair cut in a half-crown style, but Riley did not have his dad's cleanly-trimmed mustache and beard. Other than the size and facial hair, both looked very much alike.

"So, what's this school supposed to be like again?" asked Riley.

"Min said it would be like your old one, Riley." replied Prof. Cross. "Which means you can take Bubba and Shadow with you."

Bubba and Shadow were Riley's pet cat and owl respectively. Bubba was a Russian Blue cat, who was very friendly with the other animals, and was given to Riley by his mother for his eleventh birthday. Shadow was an Andaman Hawk Owl, which Riley's parents had helped him care for during a trip to India when Riley himself was eight years old. The two of them were placed in pet carriers nearby them, instead of with the rest of the Cross family's belongings.

They were moving to a neighborhood nearby London, England, where Riley's paternal grandmother was living, and where Riley would be attending his new school. Riley and his father were the last of their family to arrive, as they were helping move the last of their stuff. Riley's mother, Dr. Sally Cross, was at their new home with Riley's seven year old younger brother Evan, getting the place set up.

Riley was both looking forward to and dreading his first year at this new school, as it meant he could possibly be ostracized for being an outsider, or because he was a Muggleborn wizard-in training. On the upside though, he'd be making new friends, and his dad wasn't going to move around so much thanks to his occupation. Prof. Cross was an archaeologist who was well-known in the world, and was an honest man. He wasn't in the business for the money or fame, he was in it because he loved the adventures and mysteries that came with it.

While Riley was thinking about his new school, a small hand reached out from behind his seat and quickly gripped his shoulder. Surprised, Riley let out a frightened shriek, which was followed by the hand's owner's laughter. Another boy poked his head over the seat, grinning at the sight of his best friend's terrified expression, and chuckled. He had short, spiky black hair, light tanned skin, and brown eyes, but he wore a light blue shirt over a forest green long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Tony!" whined Riley. "That was not funny!"

"Sure it was, Ry!" chuckled Tony. "Hey, Uncle Tim, are we there yet?"

"For the tenth time, Anthony, be patient." replied Prof. Cross.

"Aw, man, I'm so stoked! I can't wait to start school!"

The young boy seemed to be oozing excitement the way he was smiling. A man sitting beside Tony merely tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a warning glare, which caused Tony to sit down instantly, but not stop looking excited.

"Anthony, while you two are there, I don't want to hear that you've been up to any mischief, are we clear?" the man instructed the boy beside him.

"Sure, dad." replied Tony.

"I mean it, no shenanigans."

"We know, dad. We'll be good."

"Good. Last thing I need is another Howler letting me know you hexed someone's pants down in front of the whole school again."

Both Riley and Tony sunk lower into their seats, looking very embarrassed. During their last day of school months ago, Tony had talked Riley into helping him magically pantsing a teacher who was being sexist towards one teacher, and racist to another. Now they were going to switch to another school where they'd have an almost clean slate, and they would be getting on the train today.

A short while later, the plane finally landed (much to Riley's immense relief), and the boys were taken to the Cross family's new home in order to get their school stuff. Riley and Tony quickly gathered their belongings and placed them into their respective trunks, then got dressed into their new school clothes. They didn't put on their robes yet, as it would attract unwanted attention, as Riley's older brother, Deran, had told them. While Riley was organizing his stuff so he'd make more room in his trunk and keep the contents from getting ruined or broken, a woman in a white labcoat and black skirt entered the room. She wore a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and had long, wavy, dark brown hair, and her kindly gray eyes gazed down at the boy.

"Ready to go?" she called, smiling.

Riley looked up at her and smiled back at her.

"Yeah, mom." he answered.

"No, I don't think so." Mrs. Cross said, walking into the room.

She had her hands folded behind her back, as if hiding something, and her smile grew bigger.

"Looks like you'll need something for the trip." she explained, acting innocently. "Something to keep you entertained."

Riley looked at her, confused, and then Mrs. Cross' hands moved from behind her back to reveal a paper bag clutched in them. Riley took the bag from her, and opened it. Inside were a stack of comic books. Brand new comic books.

"Cool!" he exclaimed. "New comic books!"

"Grandpa Neil thought you would love these." Mrs. Cross told him. "He says Superman's the biggest thing back in the States, and he wants you to write him as soon as you complete this collection."

"I will! I can't wait to read these!"

With that, Riley placed the paper bag containing the comic books into the trunk and closed it. He and Tony took their things out to the car, and Mrs. Cross and Tony's father took them to King's Cross station, where they were to board their train. Once they got out and got their trolleys, Mrs. Cross knelt down before her son to hug him goodbye.

"Write to me every week, alright?" she told him. "And don't give Minerva any grief."

"I won't, mom." replied Riley. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Mrs. Cross kissed her son on the forehead and stood back up, while Tony's father was once again reminding his son not to cause any trouble, and warned him about what would happen if he got into any more trouble. Once they were done talking, Mrs. Cross handed the boys their tickets. The two eleven year olds read their tickets and looked at one another confused.

"How do we find a Platform 9 and 3/4?" asked Tony.

"Find someone dressed like us or has an owl with their luggage?" Riley guessed, shrugging.

"You two better get on your way," Tony's father told them. "Send Shadow if you need to."

He and Mrs. Cross left, having to go to work, and so Riley and Tony were left alone to find their ride to school. They pushed their carts through the station, and looked around for people who seemed like they were heading to their school.

"See anyone yet, Tony?" asked Riley.

"Nada, boyo." replied Tony. "What's the time?"

Riley paused in his tracks to check his watch, they had just ten minutes to find their train.

"We don't have much time left." he announced.

"Wonderful." sighed Tony.

After another moment of searching, Tony finally caught sight of a boy their age wandering around with a cart with a trunk and an snow white owl on it. The boy had untidy black hair, and wore a pair of glasses, a plaid, long-sleeved shirt that seemed a little big for him, and blue jeans with a pair of worn-out old shoes.

"Hey, Ry." he called to his friend. "Think he could be...?"

Riley turned to look at the boy his friend was staring at, and nodded.

"Could be." he muttered.

The darker-haired boy left his cart behind, and walked over to the other boy, who was now talking to a conductor.

"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get on Platform 9 and 3/4?" the boy asked, politely.

The conductor scowled at him.

"'9 and 3/4'?" he repeated. "Think you're being funny, do you?"

The boy now looked a little embarrassed, regretting having to have asked. Riley chose this moment to speed toward the boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, there you are." he said, cheerfully.

The boy and the conductor looked at him, confused. Riley looked up at the man towering over them, and smiled.

"Sorry, got away from me." he apologized. "The rascal."

"Is this your friend?" asked the conductor.

"Brother. Little brother. Yet I still dislike that he's taller than me. You'll have to excuse him, I put him up to this."

The other boy stared at him, stunned now more than before. The conductor scolded Riley for having his brother wasting his time like that, and walked away. Riley then looked at the boy, and his smile fell a little.

"I take it you don't know how to find our ride to school either?" he guessed.

"No." the other boy responded. "Thanks for stepping in though."

"Don't worry about it. I'm Riley Cross, my buddy over there is Tony Gabriel."

The boy smiled and shook his hand.

"I'm Harry Potter." he greeted. "Nice to meet you."

"Come on, maybe we should stick together." Riley told him, once Harry had released his hand.

Riley walked over to where Tony was to retrieve his cart, and pushed it over by Harry, and Tony followed after him.

"So, which way should we go?" asked Tony.

Riley tapped his chin in thought, trying to think of a plan. Behind him, a family of six redheads walked past him, four of which had carts with luggage similar to their own.

"...every year, packed with Muggles, of course!" the woman of the group's voice commented.

The word "Muggles" had grabbed the attention of the three boys, and they pushed their carts after them.

"Come on, Platform 9 and 3/4 this way!" the woman announced to her children.

The six redheads headed towards Platform 9 and 10, and the woman and the young girl with them stopped to the side between Platforms 9 and 10 and 7 and 8. She turned to look at the boys, and then spoke.

"Percy, you first." she called.

The taller boy, known as Percy, pushed his cart toward the center, facing the wall between Platforms 9 and 10.

"What's he gonna do?" asked Harry.

"Let's watch and learn." replied Tony.

Percy pushed his cart toward the wall, and ran at it. Much to Harry, Riley, and Tony's collective surprise though, Percy didn't crash. He disappeared, like a ghost travelling through solid objects.

"Did anyone else see that?" asked Riley. "Did that just happen?"

"I was going to ask you guys that." replied Harry.

The redhead woman calmly turned back to her the remaining three redheaded males, and called for the one called "Fred". The redhead twins then complained and told her off for getting them mixed up, until the woman apologized and addressed the twin she was calling for as "George". "George" pushed his cart forward in the same manner as Percy did, and smiled at his mother.

"Only joking, I am Fred." the boy told her.

The mother looked as if she wanted to hit him, but missed her chance as the twins headed to the wall and disappeared upon charging at it.

"Must be a portal or something." said Tony.

"Guess that's where our ride is." agreed Riley.

"Only one way to find out." said Harry.

He walked forward, and addressed the woman.

"Excuse me?" he spoke, getting her attention.

Riley and Tony followed after Harry, and Harry then asked what the three had been wondering the whole time they were there.

"Could-Could you tell us-How to-" he began, stammering shyly.

The boy motioned to the wall where the woman's sons disappeared into, and the woman seemed to understand now.

"'How to get onto the platform'?" she finished, chuckling. "Not to worry, dears. It's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well."

The three boys looked over at the last redheaded male who smiled at them, as if letting them know that he was "Ron". The woman then began explaining to them how to get to Platform 9 and 3/4.

"Now all you've got to do..." she began, now pointing at the wall. "...is walk straight at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10."

Harry, Riley, and Tony looked back at the wall, nervously.

"At the wall?" repeated Tony.

"Best to do a bit of a run if you're nervous." the woman advised him and the other two. "You'll be fine."

"Good luck." the little girl with her said, cheerfully.

Harry, Riley, and Tony looked at one another now.

"Who wants to go first?" asked Riley.

"Maybe you should, Ry." Tony offered, patting him on the back.

"Me?!"

"Yeah, you. Harry and I will be right behind you. Won't we, Harry?"

Riley's startled gaze now turned to look at Harry, who nodded quickly. Sighing, he reluctantly moved his cart to the position where the other three boys were standing.

"Here goes something." Riley muttered, taking a deep breath.

He then pushed his cart, running at high speed, and bolted at the wall. To his surprise though, he didn't crash. Instead, he found himself standing in what looked like a different station. There were people walking around with luggage like his own, some with owls, and some with cats, and some with no pets at all.

"This is so awesome." grinned Riley.

Behind him, Harry had arrived with his cart, and also looked very amazed at what they were seeing.

"Hey, Harry." greeted Riley. "Glad you could join the party."

They pushed their carts forward, and saw a red and black train parked nearby, with steam blowing out of it.

"Amazing." breathed Harry. "So, this is it?"

"That's our ride, if that's what you mean." said Riley.

Tony then emerged onto the platform behind them, and laughed weakly.

"Cool!" he exclaimed. "I didn't crash!"

The three of them pushed their carts over to the train, where someone helped them with their things, and then headed on board to find a place to sit. Tony then noticed that Riley had a paper bag in his hand.

"What's that, Riley?" he asked.

"Oh, some comics my mom said that came from my grandpa." explained Riley. "They thought I could use them on the trip."

"What kind?" asked Harry.

Riley's response was a shrug. The three of them finally walked into a compartment, and then sat down as the train began leaving the station. They watched as they passed fields of trees, grass, and hilltops, with farm and forest animals here and there. Riley was reading the first issue of his new comic book when he noticed in his field of vision that Harry was gazing out the window interested.

"You don't go traveling around a lot, do you?" he asked.

"Not that much." replied Harry. "Come on, you have to admit this beautiful."

Before either of his new friends could answer, a soft voice spoke up from outside of their compartment.

"Excuse me?" the voice called.

All three heads turned to see a red-haired boy standing outside of the compartment. Not just any red-haired boy though, it was the youngest male of the redheads that the trio had met earlier.

"Do you mind?" the boy asked, shyly. "Everywhere else is full."

"Not at all." replied Harry. "Right, guys?" he added, turning to the other two occupants.

"Please." Tony said, gesturing to the seat beside him.

The redheaded boy entered the compartment and took a seat across from Harry by the window.

"I'm Ron, by the way." he greeted, smiling. "Ron Weasley."

"Anthony Gabriel, but everybody calls me 'Tony' for short." responded Tony.

"Riley Cross." Riley spoke, closing his comic book to shake Ron's hand briefly.

"I'm Harry," Harry finished, just smiling. "Harry Potter."

The moment Harry had finished introducing himself, Ron's eyes widened in amazement and surprise. Tony and Riley looked at each other, confused, and then at Ron, who began to speak again.

"S-So...So it's true!" he gasped, amazed. "I mean,...do you really have the...the...?"

Harry stared as Ron tapped at his forehead.

"The what?" asked Harry.

Ron now leaned in a little, whispering as if what he was asking was some huge secret.

"The scar?" he answered.

Harry then nodded, and pushed back his bengs, showing a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Riley and Tony decided to take a look also, and were also amazed.

"Wicked." Ron gasped, amazed.

"How'd you get that?" asked Riley.

Harry began to explain, until Ron interrupted and looked at him, even more surprised.

"How'd he get that?!" he repeated, shocked. "You mean you don't know who he is?!"

"Me and my big mouth." said Riley.

"That's the Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived. He got that scar from when You-Know-Who tried to kill him."

To Ron and Harry's surprise though, Riley and Tony looked completely lost.

"'You-Know-Who'?" Riley asked, turning to look at Tony.

"If I knew who, I'd tell you." Tony replied, jokingly.

"You two are going to Hogwarts, a magic school, and you two know nothing about You-Know-Who or Harry Potter." Ron scolded them. "Where did you two come from?"

"Well, we didn't stay in one place for too long growing up." Riley explained to him, gesturing to himself and Tony. "Our dads are archaeologists, and their businesses had us going from location to location during the summer."

Tony nodded at Ron in agreement.

"We're Muggleborn Wizards." he explained.

"You're Muggles?" Ron asked, curiously. "My dad studies the Muggle world for a living. Last I saw of my dad before we left home was him tinkering with a car trying to figure out how it worked."

At that moment, a cart pushed by the compartment door, with sweets on the shelves, and a kindly old woman poked her head into the compartment.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked the four boys.

Ron reluctantly held up some sandwiches packed into plastic wrapping.

"No thanks, I'm all set." he replied.

Harry looked at Ron, then watched as Riley and Tony began digging into their own pockets for some money, then he himself dug his hand into his own pocket.

"We'll take the lot." declared Harry.

He took a handful of coins out of his pocket and held them out for the woman to see. Riley and Tony had took out coins of the same kind as Harry's, causing Ron to stare at each handful in amazement.

"Whoa."

* * *

Just thought I'd try a nice change of pace for the time being, and I've decided to wait until December to resume my GX fanfic since it's still in the Christmas chapters.

So, I introduced two new characters that will be attending Hogwarts with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Riley and Tony are a pair of best friends from the States who attended a magic school until they got their letters from Hogwarts, and moved back to Riley's mother's hometown to attend school. They meet Harry and Ron, and some of their history is revealed.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	2. Arrival at Hogwarts

Chapter Two: Arrival at Hogwarts

Moments after Harry, Riley, and Tony paid for the snacks, they, along with Ron, began snacking down on them. Ron was helping himself to some licorice wands, Tony was eating a pumpkin pasty, and Riley was examining a pentagon-shaped box with the words "Chocolate Frogs" on the front, while Harry was now starting on a box of jellybean-like candies.

"'Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans'?" he read.

"They mean every flavor." Ron explained to his friends. "There's chocolate, and peppermint,...and there's also..."

As he tried to remember some of the flavors, Harry decided to try one out.

"Spinach,...liver, and tripe." finished Ron.

Harry's face twisted in disgust, and passed the box to Riley, who handed him the boxes of chocolate frogs in exchange.

"George swore he got a bogey-flavored one once." Ron told them.

While Harry was taking the bean he was eating out of his mouth to put in a discarded wrapper, Riley decided to try his luck, and took out a bean.

"Well, here goes." he muttered.

He tossed the bean into his mouth and began chewing. Slowly, his expression turned into a look of disgust even greater than Harry's. He swallowed the bean, and quickly took a drink of the bottled water he brought with him.

"When they said 'every flavor', they meant it." said Riley. "I need to send some of these to my little brother."

"What flavor did you get?" asked Ron.

"I don't know. But it was seriously gross."

Ron stared for a moment, then started on a licorice wand. Harry then examined one of the box Riley had given him.

"These aren't real frogs, are they?" he asked.

"It's just a spell." answered Ron. "Besides it's the cards you want. Each pack's got a famous Witch or Wizard. I've got about 500 meself."

Harry then decided to try it out and opened the box. To his surprise, as well as Riley and Tony's, the frog inside croaked and began to move. To make sure he wasn't hallucinating, Tony smacked himself as hard as he could once. Riley's jaw dropped as the frog now leapt onto the window, sticking to the side.

"Watch it!" yelped Ron.

The four boys watched as the frog climbed up the window, then jumped out the window out of sight.

"Well, I've just about seen everything now." Tony commented, shaking his head.

"Rotten luck," said Ron. "They've only got one good jump to begin with."

Harry then turned his attention to the card that came with the frog. The name read "Albus Dumbledore", and the picture showed an elderly man with a long beard, wearing scarlet robes and a pointed hat. Harry then looked up at Ron, grinning.

"I've got Dumbledore." he announced.

"I've got about six of him." Ron told him, nonchalantly.

Looking back down, he saw that the man in the picture had vanished without a trace.

"Hey, he's gone!" he gasped.

"That's not possible." scoffed Tony. "People in pictures can't just disappear all of a sudden."

"Actually they can," explained Ron. "You guys can't expect people to hang around in pictures all day, can you?"

Harry then noticed that there was a rat on Ron's lap, with it's head in the now empty box of Bertie Bott's. It looked very old and dirty, but acted quite youthful and energetic.

"This is Scabbers, by the way," Ron told him. "Pathetic, isn't he?"

"Just a little." Harry admitted, with a shrug.

"How old is it?" asked Riley.

Ron paused to look at his rat, and looked at Riley.

"I forget, I'll have to ask mum." he answered. "I've had him for a little over five years. He was my brother's."

Riley glanced down at the rat, looking very interested.

"Amazing." he mused, curiously. "Must be one healthy rat."

"Fred gave me a spell to turn him yellow, you guys want to see?" asked Ron.

The other three boys agreed, and watched eagerly as Ron took out his wand. Clearing his throat once, he pointed the wand at Scabbers. As he did this, a girl dressed in her school robes walked over to their compartment door. She looked about their age, and had long, bushy brown hair, and her light brown eyes darted at the floor, as if looking for something. After a moment of searching, she looked up at the four occupants.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" she asked. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

"No." replied Ron.

"Sorry, ma'am," Riley apologized, politely. "Only animals I've seen on the train were our pets, and if you're counting chocolate frogs, the one that jumped out the window."

"Okay." the girl said.

Her eyes then fell on the wand in Ron's hand, and her expression brightened.

"Oh, are you doing magic?" she asked. "Let's see then."

All eyes were then back on Ron, who cleared his throat again.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,..." he began, a thoughtful look on his face.

The others watched as his wand tapped at the air above Scabbers, their gazes intense, and all holding their breaths.

"...turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." finished Ron.

The box Scabbers' head was in lit up, and the rodent quickly backed out, squeaking panickedly. Ron then looked up at each of his friends, confused, and all four of them shrugged.

"I think you got played, boyo." Tony pointed out.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" the girl standing in the door asked. "Well, it's not really good, is it?"

As she continued on, Ron turned to glance at Harry, Riley, and Tony, in disbelief at the nerve of the girl. Harry seemed to agree with him, while Tony looked back up at the girl, pretending to listen, and Riley was paying sincere attention to what she was saying.

"Of course, I tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." the girl finished explaining.

She walked inside, and looked at Riley.

"Mind if I sit there for a moment?" she asked.

Riley nodded, and rose to his feet to give her his seat, and sat on Tony's opposite side. The girl sat down in Riley's former seat, and took out her wand, pointing it at Harry's face.

"For example,..." she started.

Harry stared at the wand, both dreading and curious to know what spell she would cast. Tony and Riley watched also, while Ron resumed eating the sweets.

"Oculus Reparo." she spoke, calmly.

The tape on the bridge of Harry's glasses suddenly unraveled and disappeared in a tiny puff of smoke. Ron casted a brief glance to Harry to see the result of the spell the newcomer had cast, and stared in surprise. Harry took off his glasses to examine them, and the girl smiled proudly.

"That's better, isn't it?" she asked.

While Harry was looking at his friends in amazement at what they had witnessed, the girl's expression suddenly turned into amazement as her eyes narrowed at Harry's forehead.

"Holy crickets!" she gasped. "You're Harry Potter!"

While Harry put back on his glasses, the girl immediately introduced herself.

"I'm Hermione Granger." she greeted.

"Riley Cross." Riley spoke up, shaking her hand.

"Anthony Gabriel," Tony threw in. "Call me 'Tony' though, everybody does."

Hermione nodded, and shook his hand after she was done shaking Riley's. Then her attention turned to Ron.

"And you are...?" she asked.

Ron, who was still finishing up the chocolate frogs, introduced himself next.

"I'm Ron Weasley." he said.

Hermione smiled weakly at him.

"Pleasure." she responded. "You should switch into your robes, I expect we'll be arriving soon."

"We should keep lookout." said Tony. "We've already changed."

Riley nodded in agreement, and picked up his comics, while Hermione exited the compartment first. After Riley and Tony left, Hermione poked her head back inside to look at Ron.

"You've got dirt on your nose by the way," she alerted him. "Did you know?"

She tapped the side of her nose to indicate where it was.

"Just there." she said.

Ron watched as Hermione walked away, and scrubbed furiously at his nose to clean it. While he did this, Riley pointed at the pasties.

"I'll trade you my frogs for your pasties." he offered.

"Deal." agreed Ron.

A little while later, during night time, the train had finally arrived at the school's station. The four boys, after having been fully dressed in their school robes, cleaned up their mess, and waited to exit the train. Harry was the first to exit the train, with Ron, Tony, and Riley following behind him, and they began following after the other students.

"Man, where do you suppose we are?" asked Riley.

"This is Hogsmeade." answered Hermione.

Riley turned his head to see her standing behind him.

"It's a village nearby the school." Hermione continued to explain. "This is where the older students get to hang out."

"Lucky." said Riley. "This place looks amazing."

"Wait until you get to see the school."

Hermione watched as Riley continued to look around, and then pulled him along to catch up to the others.

"Are you from another country?" Hermione asked, in a low voice. "No offense, but you don't sound from here."

"Uh, that's sort of complicated." Riley replied with a chuckle. "I'll explain later."

A loud voice then called for the first year students, and they walked forward until they caught up with Harry, Ron, and Tony. Standing nearby was a very large man with long, black tangled hair and a long beard wearing a heavy brown coat, a red shirt, and dark pants and boots. In his hand was a lantern, which was emitting a very bright light. The man looked down at them, and smiled.

"Hello, Harry!" he greeted.

Harry smiled back at him, and returned the greeting. Ron, Tony, Riley, and Hermione were among several other first years who stared up at him in awe. Then the large man instructed the first year students to follow him to the boats, then began leading them to the lake. Harry and Ron climbed into one boat with two other boys already in it, Hermione, Riley, and Tony took another boat with a boy and a girl already seated in it. Soon enough the boats were driving themselves across the lake, and taking the passengers to their destination. Hermione looked beside her to see Riley fidgeting in his seat, looking anxious.

"Calm down, Riley," she told him, laughing. "You'll see it."

"You'll have to excuse him," Tony quipped, smirking. "My friend here had too much sugar in his hot chocolate this morning."

The others laughed, while Riley turned to scowl at his friend.

"Funny, Tony." he grumbled. "Very funny."

Within moments, they finally were close enough to see a castle coming into view. Hermione nudged Riley and nodded at the castle.

"That's it." she told him.

Riley looked at her for a moment, then back up at the castle.

"That's the school?" he asked. "It's incredible!"

The castle looked massive, and it had many towers and bridges here and there. There were even forests surrounding the place. Riley looked over at the boat which Harry and Ron were seated in, and saw that they were in awe at the magnificent sight as well. Once the boats reached the shore, the giant, who Harry told his friends was named "Hagrid", led the first year students up the path to the castle doors. He stopped and turned to the students.

"Alright, you just head up through these doors, and Prof. McGonagall will be up the stairs waiting for you." Hagrid instructed them. "See you inside."

They entered and headed up the stairs, until they finally reached an elderly woman dressed in dark emerald green robes, wearing a pointed witch's hat with feathers sticking out of the side. She wore a pair of glasses on her face, and wore her long, brown hair in a tight bun. The students could only guess that this woman was Prof. McGonagall. Once the students stopped on the staircase, the woman began to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." she greeted. "Now in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

Prof. McGonagall paused in her speech for a moment to see if any of the students were listening, then continued.

"Now while you're here, your House will be like your family." she explained. "Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule-breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup."

"Trevor!" a boy suddenly shouted.

Riley and Hermione watched as a boy with dark hair dashed forward to retrieve a toad from the concrete floor the woman was standing on. A few of the students laughed at him, and the boy slowly looked up to see the woman towering over him staring down at him, an unamused look on her face. The boy slowly retreated back into the group of students, and apologized quickly.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily." Prof. McGonagall told the students.

The students watched as she walked through the large doors, and disappeared into the room.

"Huh, a 'Sorting Ceremony', is that all?" Riley asked, nervously. "I thought we'd have to take a test or something."

Hermione patted him on the shoulder in a comforting manner, then suddenly a new voice spoke up.

"It's true then. What they're saying on the train." it said, loudly.

The students looked to the left to see a boy with short blond hair, slicked back over his head, glancing at Harry.

"Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." he announced.

While the students were whispering amongst themselves, the boy nodded at the pair of larger boys standing beside him. Both had short dark brown hair, and near vacant expressions.

"This is Crabbe, and Goyle," the blond-haired boy told Harry. "And I'm Malfoy."

He walked forward until he was in front of Harry, and faced him, smirking.

"Draco Malfoy." he finished.

Ron and Tony snorted, trying to suppress their laughter, but then Draco turned his attention towards them.

"Think my name's funny, do you?" he asked, sneeringly. "No need to ask for yours."

He was looking at Ron as he spoke.

"Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe,..." Draco observed, nastily. "...You must be a Weasley."

While Ron glared back at him, Draco then turned to look at Tony.

"And you, what's your name?" he asked.

"Tony Gabriel." replied Tony.

"And you think my name's funny? Your name isn't anymore odd than mine is."

Tony just shrugged his words off. Draco then noticed the dirty look Riley was shooting him.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped. "Got something to say?"

"Yeah, are you done yet?" asked Riley.

Draco scowled at him for a moment, then returned his attention to Harry.

"You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter." he warned him. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort."

The blond-haired boy paused to glare at Ron, Tony, then finally Riley. Then his gaze returned to Harry.

"I can help you there." declared Draco.

Harry looked down to see that he was offering a handshake. He didn't need another moment to consider, and looked back up at the boy.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." he responded.

Draco scowled at Harry, looking as if he had more to say, but then felt a tap at his shoulder. Looking up at who tapped him, he saw Prof. McGonagall had returned. Casting a brief parting glance at Harry, he quickly returned to where he was before. The female professor then looked at each of the students.

"We're ready for you now." she announced. "Follow me."

She opened the doors and led the students into a large room with four long tables filling up most of the room, and students sitting at them. Riley then looked up to see several candles floating into the air, and sky in place of the ceiling.

"How...?" he started.

"It's not real, the ceiling," Hermione explained, casually. "It's just bewitched to look like the night sky."

Riley looked back at her, amazed.

"I read about it in 'Hogwarts, a History'." Hermione told him.

Meanwhile, Tony nudged Harry and Ron, and nodded at the hat on the stool.

"What do you suppose that's for?" he asked.

"I don't know." replied Harry.

Little did they know, Tony's question was about to be answered. Once they passed the tables, Prof. McGonagall walked up the wooden steps and stood next to the stool, then turned back to the students.

"Would you wait along here, please?" she instructed the students.

The students pressed forward until they stopped in front of the steps.

"Now, before we begin, Prof. Dumbledore would like to say a few words." the elderly woman told them.

Prof. Dumbledore, who was dressed in a similar set of robes to the ones he was wearing in the picture on Harry's chocolate frog card, rose to his feet as his fellow staff member spoke.

"I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce." he spoke, in a soft voice. "The first years please note that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch,-"

He paused to gesture to a man standing in the doorway that the first year students just passed through. Mr. Filch was a gruff old man with balding, long brown hair which seemed to be graying with age, and he wore an worn old brown coat over a brown shirt, with dark pants and boots. At his feet was a very fluffy Maine Coon cat, with bright red eyes. They seemed to be surveying the area, much like a police officer on patrol.

"-has asked me remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death." Prof. Dumbledore concluded. "Thank you."

As he sat down, the students took in his words, and thought about what he said. Then Prof. McGonagall unrolled her scroll, and briefly looked at it, before returning her gaze to the students.

"Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you'll be sorted into your Houses." she explained, as she picked up the hat.

The students watched as Prof. McGonagall glanced at the scroll again, then scanned the crowd of first years.

"'Riland Cross'?" she called.

The students looked around, and Hermione glanced at Riley, who had frozen up in terror.

"Riland Cross, please step forward." Prof. McGonagall called once again.

Hermione nudged Riley, and nodded at the stool.

"Go on." she whispered.

"You both are off your rocker, I am not going up there!" Riley hissed, panicked. "Let someone else go first!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. Behind him, Ron was also getting impatient.

"Get up there, you big chicken!" he whispered.

Riley felt something kick him in the butt, and he was knocked forward onto the ground. He pushed himself up, and saw that Prof. McGonagall was looking down at him, scowling.

"Evening, ma'am." Riley greeted, weakly.

After getting back up to his feet, he saw that the woman standing before him was getting more and more impatient.

"The stool. Right. Sorry." Riley said, moving forward to sit down on the stool.

Prof. McGonagall placed the hat on his head, and Riley chuckled again.

"Yep." he said, nervously. "Good fit, this is."

"Not from around here, are you, kid?" a new voice spoke.

Riley's smile faded slowly, and he realized in horror that the hat was the one who talked. With a frightened scream, he shot off of the stool in a millisecond, while most of the other kids behind him roared with laughter.

"The hat spoke to me!" Riley shrieked, pointing at the fallen hat. "It spoke!"

"Yeah, that's right, and I can sing, too." the hat responded, chuckling at it's joke. "But enough about me, lad, let's talk about you, and what House you go into."

Riley sat back onto the stool, and put the hat back on top of his head.

"Let me see, what do we have in this ol' noodle of yours?" the hat mused. "So, other than that little surprise attack you just had, you're quite the chivalrous youngster, and when the time calls for it, you're ready to stand up for what's right. I know exactly where you belong."

Riley shut his eyes tightly for a moment, mentally praying that he wouldn't end up in the wrong House.

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled.

The students suddenly burst into an applause, and Riley felt the hat being removed from his head, and he was excused to take his seat to the Gryffindor table.

"Good luck." he mouthed to his friends, as he passed.

Prof. McGonagall glanced at the parchment again, and called for the next student.

"'Hermione Granger'." she called.

Hermione froze up a little and began walking forward.

"Oh, no." she whispered to herself. "Okay. Relax."

Behind her, Ron nudged Harry, getting his and Tony's attention.

"Mental, that one." he muttered. "I'm telling you."

Harry nodded in agreement, while Tony gave a quick smirk. Hermione sat down on top of the stool, taking a deep breath to calm herself, then felt the Sorting Hat being placed on top of her head. The hat came to life again, and began to think.

"Ah, right then,...mmm,...right..." the hat muttered.

After a moment of thinking, it finally decided.

"Okay,...Gryffindor!" the hat announced.

The students broke out into applause once again, and Hermione leapt out of her seat to join Riley at the Gryffindor table. Prof. McGonagall looked at the parchment and then called for the next one.

"'Anthony Gabriel'." she said.

Tony gulped, and looked at his friends. Harry and Ron nodded at him to go, and Tony did. He walked up the steps towards the stool and sat down, facing the other students. The hat was seated on his head, and Tony felt it move a little.

"Hmm, now you're an interesting case." the hat told Tony. "This could go either way. You'd be great for all four Houses, but which to put you in?...Yes,...Slytherin!"

Tony shrugged as the crowd broke out into cheers, and got up as the hat was removed, then headed to the Slytherin table. Harry looked at Ron, who seemed a little disappointed.

"Too bad, I thought he was cool." Ron whispered, sadly.

Harry stared at him, confused, while Prof. McGonagall called for the next student.

"'Draco Malfoy'." she called.

The blond-haired boy who was trying to recruit Harry stepped forward, and sat down on the stool. Prof. McGonagall lowered the hat onto his head, but the hat had already decided before it was fully seated on the boy's head.

"Slytherin!" the hat spoke.

Draco smirked, and got up to join the other Slytherins at the table. Harry looked at Ron, who began talking to him.

"There's not a witch or wizard who wasn't bad who wasn't in Slytherin." the latter explained.

"But Tony's not bad." argued Harry. "You've met him, he's nice."

"Until they've turned him into one of them."

Prof. McGonagall called for a "Susan Bones" next, and a girl with long red hair walked forward to be sorted. Harry's eyes wandered through across the teacher's table until his gaze locked with a man with medium length black hair dressed in black robes. The man looked back at him, his hand dropping down slightly, as if recognizing him. Harry broke his gaze as he began to feel a sharp pain in his forehead, and touched the place where his scar was, letting out a gasp of pain. Ron quickly looked at him, concerned.

"Harry, what is it?" he asked.

"Nothing." replied Harry. "Nothing, I'm fine."

He looked back at the man he had been staring at who was beginning to avert his own gaze. Meanwhile, the hat had decided to put Susan Bones in Hufflepuff, which caused the crowd to erupt into cheers once again. Then Prof. McGonagall looked at the parchment to read the name of the next student.

"'Ronald Weasley'." she called.

Ron's jaw dropped, and he looked at Harry for a moment. Harry nodded at him to go, and watched as his friend walked up the steps and sat on the stool. The hat was placed on Ron's head and it spoke, making it's wearer jump out of nervousness.

"Ah, another Weasley," the hat laughed. "I know just what to do with you! Gryffindor!"

The crowd broke into applause once again, and a relieved Ron made his way to the Gryffindor table. Prof. McGonagall paused to look at the scroll, and then at the crowd of first years.

"'Harry Potter'." she announced.

Behind her, Prof. Dumbledore leaned forward, interested, as did the other teachers. Hagrid seemed to be holding his breath. Harry slowly made his way through the whispering crowd, and up the steps. Back at the Gryffindor table, Ron had taken his seat opposite of Hermione and Riley, and the three of them looked up at the front of the hall, waiting to hear what House Harry would be sorted into. The hat was placed onto Harry's head, and it began to think.

"Hmm, difficult. Very difficult." the hat mused. "Plenty of courage, I see, not a bad mind either. There's talent,...oh, yes,..and a thirst to prove yourself,...but where to put you?"

Harry shut his eyes tightly, and muttered a quiet prayer.

"Not Slytherin." he prayed, quietly. "Not Slytherin."

"'Not Slytherin', eh?" repeated the hat. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know. It's all here in your head, and Slytherin could help you on your way to greatness, there's no doubt about that. No?"

Harry continued to whisper his prayers to not be put in Slytherin, and then the hat had finally made it's choice where to put Harry.

"Better be...Gryffindor!" it shouted.

Harry smiled, and the Gryffindor House's applause rang out higher than any other House's. Harry got up and joined his fellow Gryffindors at the table, and shook hands with his other housemates. Looking back at the front of the hall, he saw Prof. Dumbledore lifting his goblet up a little in acknowledgement.

* * *

A little while after the Sorting, Prof. McGonagall had returned to her seat at the teacher's table, and tapped her spoon against the glass goblet seated in front of her a few times.

"Your attention, please." she called.

Prof. Dumbledore stood up, waiting for the students to quiet down, and looked across the hall.

"Let the feast...begin." he announced, raising his hands.

To the surprise of most of the students, the dishes on the tables suddenly became full of food, and their goblets became filled with their drinks. The students began to dig into their dinner, and started conversing with one another.

"I'm half and half," one student, a boy named Seamus Finnegan, stated. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out."

Hermione then turned to look at Riley, who was starting on some fries.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm all Muggle." replied Riley. "Same with my parents and brothers."

"Same with me and my parents, no siblings though."

"Really? Well, now you've got me and Tony as brothers."

Hermione smiled at him in appreciation.

"So, are you the only wizard in your family?" she asked.

"No, Deran was the first one out of us who was able to do magic. We expect Evan's next."

Next to them, Harry was talking to Ron's older brother, Percy, the Gryffindor prefect.

"Say, Percy, who's that talking to Prof. Quirrell?" he asked.

Percy looked up at the teachers talking at the far end, and then back at Harry.

"Oh, that's Prof. Snape, the Head of Slytherin House." he answered.

"What's he teach?" asked Harry.

"Potions. Everyone knows that it's the Dark Arts he fancies, he's been after Quirrell's job for years."

Harry nodded, and watched as both Riley and Ron reached for a piece of chicken, but then the two yelled when a ghostly head popped up out of the plate. The head belonged to a man with dark fluffy hair.

"Hello!" it greeted, kindly. "How are you?"

Ron stared down at the ghost, trying to find the words to talk back to it.

"Welcome to Gryffindor." the ghost said, cheerfully.

Soon enough, more ghosts began flying into the Great Hall. One was a woman who soared down from the wall by the Ravenclaws, followed by a man dressed in Musketeer-like wear. Next, ghostly friar appeared from the ground in between two of the tables, and finally a male aristrocrat soared over the Slytherin table.

"Look, it's the Bloody Baron!" one student shouted.

Harry and the others watched as the more and more ghosts flew all around the room, and Percy addressed the ghost that had spooked his brother.

"Hello, Sir Nicholas, have a nice summer?" he asked, politely.

Sir Nicholas levitated onto the table, looking very disappointed all of a sudden.

"Dismal." he replied. "Once again, my request to join the Headless Hunt has been denied."

He turned to fly away, then Ron shouted at him.

"I know you!" he gasped. "You're Nearly-Headless Nick!"

Offended, the ghostly man turned to rectify him.

"I prefer 'Sir Nicholas', if you don't mind." he told him.

Riley grinned, fighting back a chuckle, and resumed eating.

"'Nearly-Headless'?" Hermione repeated, confused. "How can you be 'Nearly-Headless'?"

Sir Nicholas was quick to answer this one.

"Like this." he replied, nonchalantly.

He grabbed the top of his head, and pulled it to the side, showing that he had been almost beheaded. Ron stared at the ghost in shock, and yelped, while Hermione and Harry appeared grossed out. They watched as Sir Nicholas flew away, and Ron looked back at Riley, who was still eating.

"Didn't you see it?" he asked, surprised. "How could you still eat after seeing that?"

"When you've seen old decaying corpses and the like in a tomb, nothing scares or grosses you out as much anymore." Riley replied, shrugging. "Someone mind passing a couple rolls?"

* * *

I know, a Muggle-born in Slytherin? Well, why not? So, everyone's been sorted, and new people have been introduced, with new friendships budding. Next up, the Gryffindors are introduced to their dormitories, and attend class the next day (in-chapter, of course).

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	3. The First Day of School

Chapter Three: The First Day of School

"Gryffindors, follow me, please." announced Percy. "Keep up, thank you."

Percy led the Gryffindor first years off to their tower after dinner, so they could go to bed and begin their first day of school the next morning. Riley caught sight of Tony as they left and they waved goodbye to each other. They were joined by the Ravenclaws, who were headed their way also. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were near the front of their pack, and walked faster to keep up with their prefect. They headed up the staircase, where Percy instructed them about the path to their House. While Percy had stopped to let his House catch up, the Ravenclaws began descending down a set of stairs in the next room.

"This is the most direct path to the dormitories," he explained. "Oh, and keep an eye on the staircases. They like to change."

The first years looked up and down over the railing to see that the stairs were indeed moving. They were rotating from one corridor to another. Percy then called for them to follow him, and as the first years followed after him, they saw that the stairs weren't the only things moving. The subjects in the portraits were animate as well, and several of the paintings were from different ages in time. Some of the subjects greeted the students verbally, others had waved or curtsied. Percy continued to lead them until they reached a corridor with a painting of a fat, elderly woman with black hair in a pink gown. The lady then addressed them.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis." Percy answered.

The woman gestured for them to enter, and the portrait swung open, revealing a room hidden inside. Percy led the first years into the room, and beckoned them to follow. They walked through the hole in the portrait and saw that they were in a large room, with a lit fireplace on one side, a staircase in the back of the room going upwards, and several sofas, chairs, and paintings here and there.

"Gather around here." Percy told the students.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and the others walked inside until they were all in the center of the room.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room." Percy explained to them. "Boys dormitories are upstairs and down to your left. Girls, the same to your right. You'll find your belongings have already been brought up."

Once he had them all sent to bed, Harry, Ron, Riley, Seamus, and two other Gryffindor boys named Dean and Neville headed into their dormitory, where they found their trunks were already waiting for them. They walked further inside their room, and started putting their things into their drawers. Ron was putting the cage holding his pet rat, Scabbers, on top of his dresser, when he watched Riley letting his pet cat out of it's carrier, and yelped in shock. Harry, Riley, and the others quickly turned to look at him, wondering what was wrong.

"What are you, mad?!" Ron demanded, pointing at Riley.

Riley slowly looked back down at his cat, then back at Ron.

"No." he answered, slowly.

"That's a cat!" shouted Ron.

Riley then pointed at Harry's owl.

"And that's an owl." he pointed out. "Your turn, Harry." he added, looking at Harry.

Seamus, Dean, and Neville laughed, while Ron stormed over to his dormmate.

"Cats eat rats!" he barked. "Don't let him on the loose when I've got Scabbers here!"

"Don't worry, Bubba's a good kitty." Riley reassured him. "He gets along with other animals."

They watched as Bubba leapt up onto Riley's bed, circled around the edge of it once, then laid down on it, purring. The boys then changed into their pajamas, and talked for a little bit, then went to bed. Harry, however, was the last to go to sleep. He sat by the windowsill, with his owl, and gazed out the window. He looked back at his owl, stroking the feathers on the side of her face a few times, then returned his gaze to the magnificent evening view.

The next morning, Riley stirred, hearing the quiet alarm on his watch go off, and sat up in his bed, yawning and stretching. Checking the time after he deactivated the alarm, he saw it was time for breakfast and got to his feet. He changed into his school clothes, tidied himself up, and placed his pajamas into the drawer. Bubba meowed once at him, and Riley scratched him behind the ears.

"Be good, Bub." he whispered.

Riley then walked over to Harry's bedside and shook him on the shoulder.

"Harry." he called. "Harry, wake up."

Harry turned over in his bed, and muttered something incomprehensible. Shaking his head, Riley then walked over to Ron's bedside.

"Ron, it's time for breakfast." he announced quietly. "Get up."

"Five more minutes, mum." Ron muttered, sleepily.

Deciding that they weren't going to wake up, he grabbed his school bag and comic books, and walked out of the dormitory. Upon walking into the common room, he spotted Hermione also heading out, and raced over to her.

"Hey." he called, catching up to her. "Use some company?"

"I'd love some." replied Hermione.

They walked out of the common room through the hole in the painting, and made their way to the Great Hall.

"Where are Harry and Ron?" asked Hermione.

"I tried waking them up," answered Riley. "They're too out of it. Maybe they'll show up in a few minutes."

Hermione nodded, then noticed one of Riley's comic books sticking out of his bag.

"What's that?" she asked.

Riley looked down at his bag, and took out the comic book to show her.

"Something my mom's dad sent me." Riley told her. "It's the latest thing in the U.S.. They call him Superman."

Hermione opened the comic book, and flipped through the pages.

"So, this is an American comic book?" she mused. "The story's pretty good, and so is the artwork."

"I've just started to be honest." explained Riley. "Grandpa just wanted me to have a piece of back home to take with me, and he thought this was perfect."

"So, where does he live exactly?"

"California. He lived by a big park. I'd go there to read when I was finished with my homework. Tony and I used to live there during the school year since our parents worked together often."

Hermione nodded, then saw Tony heading towards them. They stopped to let him catch up and continued to walk.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"I've made some friends in Slytherin." replied Tony. "One's a Muggleborn, just like me. Another's a Pureblood, but he's real nice. There's a couple more, too, I'll introduce you guys later. So, what's your guys' schedules for today?"

Hermione and Riley took their schedules out from their pockets, and checked them.

"It says here...Transfiguration first, then Potions,...Potions again,...Herbology,..." Hermione listed. "And finally, Charms."

Tony checked his schedule, and nodded.

"Cool, we've got Transfiguration and Potions together." he observed. "So, see you in class. I don't think we can eat at the same table."

With that, Tony took off into the Great Hall, leaving Hermione and Riley behind.

"So, how do you two know each other?" asked Hermione.

"We grew up together." answered Riley. "We're practically brothers. Our dads are archaeologists. You probably have heard of them. 'Timothy Cross'? 'Carlos Gabriel'?"

Hermione's eyes widened, meaning that she did hear of them.

"I've read about them!" she exclaimed. "They're two of the greatest archaeologists of their time. I've recently read in the paper about their discovery of a magical artifact, and Prof. McGonagall was part of the excavation group."

"Yeah, that was them." Riley nodded, shyly. "So, what do your parents do?"

"They're dentists."

"'Dentists'? Do they have their own business?"

Hermione was just about to answer, when they heard a loud explosion from nearby where they were standing, and jumped. Slowly turning around, the two Gryffindor students saw that Seamus had somehow ended up looking like a singed marshmallow.

"Part of me wants to ask 'how'," commented Riley. "The other part just says to pretend nothing ever happened."

They joined their fellow first years at the table, and ate their breakfast. Harry and Ron had yet to show up, so after the two finished, they took off to Transfiguration class with the Slytherin students. After several minutes into the lesson, Harry and Ron had finally burst through the doors. From the way that they were panting heavily, it seemed as though they had to rush double time to make it to class. Upon reaching the teacher's desk, which had a small gray tabby cat sitting on it, Ron let out a sigh of relief. Prof. McGonagall was not seen anywhere, so they were safe.

"Made it!" he exclaimed. "Can you imagine the look on ol' McGonagall's face if we were late?"

However, the cat leapt off of the table and morphed into Prof. McGonagall, who strode over to the two tardy students. Harry and Ron's jaw dropped at what they saw, and Ron was the first to speak.

"That was bloody brilliant." he spoke, honestly amazed.

"Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley." Prof. McGonagall responded, smiling. "Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way one of you might be on time."

Harry and Ron cringed a little, noting the slight irritation in her voice as she spoke.

"We got lost." Harry confessed, embarrassed.

"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats."

As their teacher walked away, Harry and Ron took their seats in the row in front of Hermione and Riley's. After class, Riley walked over to them.

"Where have you two been?" he asked.

"We slept in." replied Ron. "Why didn't you wake us up?"

"I tried, Mr. 'Five more minutes, mum'."

Later that morning, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years sat in the dungeon where they would be waiting for their Potions class to begin. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Riley sat in the center row, while Draco Malfoy, his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, and Tony sat in the front row. The class was talking amongst themselves, while waiting for their teacher to start class, and then the door suddenly opened with a bang. The students craned their heads around to see who had walked inside, and it appeared that it was Prof. Snape, the dark-haired man in dark clothing from the previous night. The same man who was speaking with Prof. Quirrell.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving, or silly incantations in this class." he declared, swiftly.

Prof. Snape stopped to turn to glance at his students.

"As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making," he continued, slowly. "However, for those select few,...who possess the predisposition,..."

The Potions teacher was now looking at the Slytherin students for a brief moment, then crossed his arms over his chest.

"I can teach you to bewitch the mind, and ensnare the senses." he went on. "I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

Several of the students looked up at him, interested at what he was talking about. Suddenly, Prof. Snape's gaze flickered over to one side of the room.

"Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention." he declared, the last few words in the sentence nearly shouted.

Hermione looked at Harry, who was sitting beside her, taking notes, and nudged him. Harry quickly looked up, and put his quill back into the bottle of ink, then resumed paying attention to the teacher. Prof. Snape walked to the side, unfolding his arms, and glanced at him.

"Mr. Potter," he spoke, softly. "Our...new celebrity."

Harry merely stared back at his teacher. He was expecting some sort of praise, the teacher to come by to shake his hand, or even a scolding for not paying attention. However, he was not expecting what was about to come out of Prof. Snape's mouth.

"Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" the Potions teacher asked.

Harry just stared at his instructor, confused, while Hermione thrusted her hand into the air. After a moment, Prof. Snape guessed correctly that he had no idea, and tried again.

"Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" he questioned.

Hermione's hand shot into the air, but Prof. Snape didn't call on her.

"I don't know, sir." Harry responded, quietly.

The next question Prof. Snape asked involved telling the different between monkswood and wolfsbane, but Harry did not know that either. However, Hermione knew, as he hand still remained in the air.

"Pity." Prof. Snape commented, even though his voice told that he was not at all disappointed. "Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?"

Harry felt a little irritated. He didn't do anything to cause the teacher to act like this towards him. He looked beside him to see Hermione's hand was still up, and called his teacher on it.

"Clearly Hermione knows." he retorted, angrily. "Seems a pity not to ask her."

Several of the students began to laugh, while Riley and Tony held their breaths.

"Silence." Prof. Snape commanded his students.

He stared Harry down a moment longer, then stormed over to him. The teacher ordered Hermione to lower her hand, and took a seat on a stool in front of Harry.

"For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful, it is known as the drought of the living dead," he described, effortlessly. "A bezoar is a stone taken from a stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkswood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

Taking note of the sudden silence filling the room, Prof. Snape addressed them.

"Well?" he asked, loudly. "Why aren't you all copying this down?"

The room was now filled with the sound of quills being withdrawn from the ink bottles, and then scratching the surface of the notebooks. While the students took notes, Prof. Snape returned to his desk.

"And Gryffindors, note that five points will be taken from your House for your classmate's cheek." he announced, as he began writing something down in his book.

Harry scowled in response, while Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle sniggered at him. Tony stared at his notebook, as he wrote down his notes, wanting badly to give a retort of his own, but decided against it.

* * *

Updating now because I'll be busy these next few days. Next chapter is halfway done though. So, first day at Hogwarts has begun, and Harry and Ron were already late for their first period class, and Harry's already made an enemy out of one Severus Snape. Will things get any worse from there, or better? Find out. Or watch the movie.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	4. In the Blood

Chapter Four: In the Blood

It had been nearly two weeks since the school year started, and things haven't changed for the worse. Though, they hadn't changed for the better either.

"Eye of rabbit, harp string's hum, turn this water into rum!"

Harry glanced to the side, and watched as Seamus tapped his wand at the air over his goblet for a moment, then rise up out of his seat to check it for a brief moment.

"At it again?" Riley asked, pausing in his meal.

Harry nodded, as they watched Seamus try again with the same incantation.

"What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?" he asked, turning to Ron.

"Turn it into rum." Ron replied, nodding at Seamus. "Actually managed to make tea yesterday,...before-"

Suddenly, the redhead was interrupted by a loud explosion that caused many of the people to jump out of pure shock. Seamus had done it once again. His goblet now began smoking, as did the poor boy's hair, and his face and the front of his hair looked slightly singed. The students around him began laughing, while Hermione fanned the smoke away with her hand.

"How does he keep doing that?" Riley asked, shaking his head at Seamus.

"That's a question I don't have the answer to." replied Hermione.

Suddenly the sounds of owls screeching filled the air, as everyone began looking up. Many owls had flown into the windows, carrying letters, newspapers, or even packages. They flew around the Main Hall, dropping their deliveries into the hands of their recipients. Hermione and Ron had caught their parcels just as a two packages dropped onto Riley's head, making him fall backwards out of his seat. Harry and Ron rose up out of their seats to glance down at their fallen friend, while Hermione got up to help Riley up, as the latter rubbed the aching spot on his forehead.

"You okay?" asked Ron.

"A little bruised, but I'm good." replied Riley.

He picked up his fallen packages, and saw that there was an envelope attached to one of them. He opened it, and took out a letter.

"Cool, mom finally sent me my books." the young Gryffindor student announced. "She finally found the box that had them."

Hermione curiously looked at the books contained in the packages Riley had just unwrapped. There were "Shiloh", "The Outsiders", "A Prayer for Owen Meany", "Matilda", "Howl's Moving Castle", and "The Indian and the Cupboard".

"What are those?" asked Ron.

"They're books." replied Hermione.

"I know that they're books, know-it-all, but I don't recognize any of them."

"They're Muggle books, some of the most popular books written in the Muggle world."

Hermione then turned to Riley.

"Can I read one of them?" she asked.

"Go for it." replied Riley.

Hermione smiled and picked up the book titled "Howl's Moving Castle", and opened it. While she did this, Ron looked at the letter he was sent, and Harry began reading the newspaper that Ron allowed him to look at. Beside Ron, Neville had opened his package and took out a small glass sphere with a golden band encircling the middle of it. As he studied the object, Dean looked up to see what his dormmate had gotten.

"Hey, look!" he said. "Neville's got a Remembrall!"

"A what?" asked Riley.

"I've read about those," Hermione explained, staring in surprise. "When the smoke turns red, it means you forgot something."

She, Riley, Dean, Neville, and a few other Gryffindors nearby watched as red smoke began to fill the inside of the glass ball.

"The only problem is I can't remember what I've forgotten." said Neville.

"Your toad again, maybe?" Riley suggested.

Almost immediately after that was said, Neville's eyes widened in shock, and he bolted out of his seat, taking off like the wind. Most of his housemates watched until Neville was out of sight, then returned to what they were doing. Meanwhile, Harry's eyes narrowed upon reading an article in the newspaper Ron had let him read called the "Daily Prophet".

"Hey, Ron," he said, nudging his friend. "Somebody broke into Gringotts."

His words grabbed the attention of both Riley and Hermione, who leaned in a little, curiously, while Harry began to read.

"'Believed to be the work of Dark wizards and witches unknown, Gringotts goblins were acknowledging the breach, and says nothing was taken.'" he read. "'The vault in question, number 713, had in fact been emptied earlier that very same day.'"

Harry paused, his face screwed up in confusion.

"That's odd." he muttered to his three friends. "That's the vault Hagrid and I went to."

The four Gryffindors looked at one another, many questions going through their heads. That was very interesting indeed.

* * *

Later on that day, several first year students gathered in the field for their flying lessons. As they stood waiting beside their brooms, Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed that Riley appeared to be very pale, as he looked down at the ground. Draco, too, noticed this and smirked.

"Hey, Cross!" he called. "What's the matter? Afraid of heights?"

Most of the non-Gryffindor students laughed at the Muggleborn wizard, who now looked pink in the face. Tony scowled at Draco for a moment, then suddenly he broke into an evil smile.

"At least he didn't flip out over a fake centipede crawling around his pillow." he shot back, loudly.

Now it was the Gryffindors and Tony's turn to laugh, while Draco's face flushed red with embarrassment and anger. The laughter lasted until the flight instructor was seen marching towards them. She was dressed in robes similar to the ones the students wore, and had short gray hair with piercing, hawk-like yellow eyes.

"Good afternoon, class." the woman greeted, as she passed the rows of students.

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch." the students chorused.

After making her way to the other side of the two rows, Madam Hooch turned to face her students.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson." she announced, smiling. "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone, step up to the left side of your broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

The students quickly moved forward to where they were supposed to be, then waited for their next instruction. Madam Hooch then raised her right hand in front of her.

"Stick your right hand over the broom, and say 'up!'" she told them.

The students did so, and all began shouting "up". Harry's broomstick jumped up into his hand instantly, much to Hermione's surprise. After a few more tries, Draco's broom jumped into his hand. Madam Hooch told her students to try with feeling, and watched as several more brooms flew up into students' hands. While Riley had finally gotten his broomstick into his hand, Hermione was still trying to get her broom into her hand. All it did though was roll around onto the ground.

"It's not a dog, Hermione." Riley told her.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw Ron's broom jumping up to smack him in the face. She, Harry, Riley, Dean, and Neville had seen this and burst into quiet laughter. Ron rubbed at his face where the broom hit him, and then glared at Harry.

"Shut up, Harry." he grumbled.

After the rest of the students had finally gotten their brooms into their hands, Madam Hooch moved onto the next part of the lesson.

"Once you got a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it." she instructed, walking back down between the two rows. "Grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end."

The students obediently climbed onto their brooms, and gripped them tightly.

"When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard," Madam Hooch continued, walking back up again. "Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly, and touch back down. On my whistle,...three, two,..."

She blew her whistle, and a whimper of fear alerted the others to Neville, who was floating off the ground on his broom. The others looked up at him, and Madam Hooch called for him, while Neville was beginning to fly off. While Madam Hooch continued to call him back down, several of the students behind her watched in horror as Neville began flying through the air, swerving and crashing into the wall a few times.

"Can't we do anything to help him?!" asked Riley.

"Not to worry, I can get him down." the flight instructor replied, taking out her wand. "Mr. Longbottom,-"

Before she could do anything though, Neville now shot at them like a rocket.

"Look out!" Tony shouted, running to the side.

The others parted so that the flying student wouldn't hit anyone. Neville flew through a doorway, and then curved up into the air until his robes were caught by the sharp, pointed accessory of a statue on top of a tower. The broom flew off without him, leaving him dangling above the crowd of students, who were all waiting below him. Neville then heard a tearing sound, his robes tore, and he dropped with his robes now caught on the torch. Tony nudged Riley, getting his attention, and nodded at Neville.

"Come on." he muttered.

They rushed forward until they were underneath the frightened Gryffindor.

"Don't worry, buddy!" shouted Tony. "We've got you!"

After a brief moment, Neville slipped out from his school robes and fell onto the two boys, all three crashing to the ground.

"Everyone out of the way!" Madam Hooch shouted, rushing towards them.

Neville sat up first, still appearing to be shaken up, while Riley rubbed the top of his head, groaning in pain. Tony, however, was having the most trouble getting up.

"You alright, boy?" asked Madam Hooch.

"Yeah, I'm okay." lied Tony.

She didn't believe him. The flight instructor helped him up and saw that his ankle was twisted, and then checked on the other two, before looking at each of the other students.

"Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Gabriel to the hospital wing, understand?" Madam Hooch ordered the other students.

She marched off, warning that if she sees a single broom in the air, the rider would be expelled before they could say "Quidditch". Riley and Neville walked back to rejoin their friends, who looked relieved that they were alright.

"Told you Tony was still okay." Harry whispered to Ron.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong." Ron whispered back, apologetically.

The peace was then broken when Draco opened his mouth.

"Hey, Longbottom!" he called, smiling nastily. "Lose something?"

To the anger of the other Gryffindors, the Slytherin student was holding up Neville's Remembrall. Neville made to take it back, but Draco held it out of reach.

"Maybe if you gave this thing a fat squeeze, you'll remember how to actually ride a broom." he continued. "And you wouldn't have crushed Gabriel's wrist with your fat arse."

Most of the other Slytherin began laughing, while Neville looked a little hurt. Harry had had enough, he stepped forward, glaring at Draco.

"Give it here, Malfoy." he demanded.

Draco looked at him, and frowned.

"No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." he responded.

He tossed the small glass ball up into the air a little, then caught it again as he stepped onto his broom. Riley made to charge at him, but the broom suddenly floated away with Draco on top of it. He climbed onto it completely and flew around, going between the students again.

"How about on the roof?" the latter taunted.

The others watched as the Slytherin flew higher and higher, until he turned to face the group of students, but more particularly Harry.

"What's the matter, Potter?" he asked. "Bit beyond your reach?"

Harry glared at him in response, then climbed onto his own broom. Hermione watched this, and stepped toward him.

"Harry, no way!" she told him. "You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly!"

Harry ignored her, and kicked off the ground hard, flying into the air.

"What an idiot." sighed Hermione.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Harry was sailing towards Draco, and stopped a little ways in front of him.

"Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" shouted Harry.

"Is that so?" asked Draco.

He tosses the Remembrall up and down in his hand a few times, then Harry rushed at him. Draco did a sort of barrel roll on his broom, dodging Harry's charge. Harry turned back to see Draco holding up the Remembrall, smiling tauntingly at him.

"Have it your way then." he said.

Harry watched as the Remembrall was thrown into the air, and flew forward quickly in an attempt to catch it. He flew faster and faster until he stopped in front of a tower and turned around to catch the small object in the nick of time. Harry tossed the ball up in his hand and caught it with the other, quickly grabbing onto the broom again when he nearly lost his grip, then began flying back to the others. Many of the students cheered, amazed at what Harry did, and they hurried towards him, congratulating him. Harry, upon landing, gave a grateful Neville back his Remembrall.

"Thanks, Harry!" he said.

Riley patted Harry on the back, grinning excitedly, until he caught sight of Prof. McGonagall coming towards them.

"Uh, guys?" he alerted his fellow Gryffindors.

Only Hermione heard him, and followed his gaze.

"Harry Potter!" Prof. McGonagall called out.

The cheering stopped when the other students saw her walking over to them. Harry noticeably gulped.

"Follow me." the Gryffindor head commanded.

The other students watched as Harry followed after her into the school, with his broomstick still in his hands. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, along with a few other Slytherins laughed quietly as they watched Harry being led away from the group, causing Riley to jab the blond-haired boy in the gut with the end of his broom, knocking him on his back with a grunt. Riley saw Hermione shooting him a scolding glare and shrugged helplessly in response.

"What?" he asked. "Am I the only one who wanted to do that?"

"Actually, I wanted to hit him over the head with mine." Ron admitted, smiling.

* * *

Sometime later in the afternoon, news of Harry being the new Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team spread like wildfire. While many were excited about this bit of news, others either couldn't care less, or...

"Come on, Hermione, you have to admit this is cool." said Riley.

He sat outside in the courtyard with Hermione, reading one of the books he had received earlier. Hermione, who was checking her homework yet again, paused to look up at him.

"Harry could've gotten himself expelled." she reminded her friend. "Have you forgotten about that part?"

"But he didn't." Riley told her, for what he felt was the dozenth time. "He stood up to a bully and made a team in the process."

He watched as Hermione shook her head at him before returning to checking her work.

"Come on, what about the look on Malfoy's face when he found out then?" asked Riley.

"Alright, alright, it is nice that Harry's on the Gryffindor team, alright?" Hermione admitted, exasperated. "But I don't condone that he broke the rules and got rewarded for it."

"But you do condone what Malfoy did?"

"Absolutely not! So, what did they say about your friend Tony?"

Riley let out a sigh. He had gone to see how Tony was holding up in the hospital wing and found that Tony would be on a crutch for a while because his ankle was still hurt. While Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, had fixed him up, the Slytherin first year would need a little time to recover still. As the two Gryffindor students resumed what they were doing, a voice broke them away once again.

"...Quidditch is great! Best game there is!" Ron's voice exclaimed. "And you'll be great, too!"

Riley looked up to see Harry and Ron walking past them, and nudged Hermione. The two closed their books and hurried to join them. No doubt the boys were talking about Harry making the team, too, as Harry appeared to be a little nervous.

"But I've never even played Quidditch!" Harry reminded the redhead. "What if I make a fool of myself?"

"Would you really have allowed yourself to take Malfoy's day job?" asked Riley. "You should've seen his face when he heard you became Seeker."

"True, and playing Quidditch is also in Harry's blood." agreed Hermione.

"Yeah, Hermione's right-"

Riley stopped in mid-sentence, and looked at her, confused, as did the other two Gryffindor boys. Hermione then led the three of them down the corridors until they reached the trophy case, and pointed at one award in particular. It was a wooden plaque with three small shield-shaped awards on it. One award in particular had "Seeker" etched on top, and the name "James Potter" written in the middle in a bigger font with "1972" under the surname.

"Whoa!" Ron breathed in awe, at the sight of the name. "Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too!"

Riley looked over at Harry, and saw a proud, amazed smile on his face.

"I didn't know." the latter said, quietly.

After another moment of looking at the award, the four Gryffindors decided to head back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I'm telling you, it's spooky." Ron said, as they climbed up the stairs. "She knows more about you than you do."

"Who doesn't?" asked Harry.

"I don't." Riley pointed out. "Remember, I'm the guy who doesn't stay in one place for too long."

"And the guy who reads books on a man in pajamas whose only weakness is a green rock. What's up with that?"

"Hey, don't knock the Man of Steel, Ron."

The conversation was halted by the staircase swinging suddenly, catching the boys off-guard.

"What's happening?" asked Harry.

"The staircases change, remember?" Hermione reminded him.

Once the staircase had stopped, Harry looked back at his friends.

"Let's go this way." he said, pointing at one door.

"Before the staircase moves again." Ron agreed, as they began moving.

They headed through the door, and saw that they had entered a new corridor. One that they had never seen before.

"Does anybody feel like we shouldn't be here?" asked Ron.

"We're not supposed to be here." replied Hermione. "This is the third floor, it's forbidden."

"Hermione, in all fairness, this whole castle is a maze." Riley defended, waving his arms around the room. "Places like this need a "Keep Out" sign. Or at least a lock."

Suddenly, as they began walking forward in the room, a torch nearby where Harry was standing lit up.

"Let's go." Harry said, taking a step back.

"Can't." said Riley.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to look at him, about to ask why, then they saw why. A familiar, old tabby cat stood in the room, meowing at them. It's red eyes glaring at them.

"It's Filch's cat!" gasped Hermione.

"Run!" Harry shouted, dashing further down the corridor.

The others followed suit, and hurried after him.

"I normally like cats, but I don't think I want to risk it with Filch's cat!" Riley said, as they ran.

"Smart choice!" Ron told him.

The further they ran, the more torches had lit up. Harry looked from side to side, trying to think of something, then he saw a door nearby.

"Quick!" he called to his friends. "Let's hide through that door!"

They made to open it, but found that it was locked.

"It's locked!" Harry said, trying to open the door.

"That's it!" Ron moaned, fearfully. "We're done for!"

"I have an idea!" Riley declared, standing back. "Clear!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched as he tackled into the door, only to end up hurting his shoulder. Riley limped away, gasping in pain, while holding his shoulder.

"Why did I do that?" he groaned.

"Your hero might be more powerful than a locomotive, but that doesn't mean you are!" Ron told him.

"I tried, didn't I?"

Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance as the two argued, and pushed them aside.

"Oh, move over!" she snapped, taking out her wand. " _Alohomora!_ "

The door suddenly clicked, and Hermione tugged on the knob, pulling it open.

"Get in." she told them.

Harry and Ron hurried through the door, but Hermione stopped Riley from entering and looked at him.

"What did we learn today?" she asked.

"Think before you act?" guessed Riley.

"Good boy."

The two followed their friends inside, and closed the door quickly and quietly.

"' _Alohomora_ '?" Ron repeated, looking at Hermione.

"Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven." explained Hermione.

Riley stared at her for a moment, then walked forward.

"Note to self, study more often." he muttered.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a great creature resting in front of him. Slowly looking up, Riley saw that this creature was a giant black dog with three heads, with it's fur cleanly trimmed. Riley took a few steps back, and tugged on Harry's sleeve.

"Harry?" he whispered. "Harry, we've got a huge problem."

Harry looked at him, confused.

"What is it?" he asked.

Riley pointed up at the dog, and Harry stared at it, too.

"Oh, no." he breathed.

Behind them, Hermione and Ron were listening by the door to see if Filch had left. After a moment, they started walking towards Harry and Riley.

"Filch is gone." Hermione reported.

"He thinks this door's locked." said Ron.

"It was locked."

"And for good reason." Harry pointed out to them.

Hermione and Ron looked to see where their friends were staring at, and their expressions slowly turned into horror as well. At this moment, the dog started stirring and yawning.

"Just keep calm, and don't look them in the eyes." Riley whispered, calmly. "My mom's a vet, she taught me how to stay on a dog's good side."

"I don't think the dogs your mum cared for had three heads and were this big, Ry." Ron said, as they all started taking steps back.

"Well this one might be friendly."

The dog slowly stood up, growling viciously, as it stared at the four kids. Harry, Hermione, and Ron let out a terrified scream, as they headed for the door, with Hermione dragging Riley behind her. The four of them pushed the door close, and Hermione locked it once again, then they headed back to the stairs. Within moments, they found their way to the Gryffindor Tower and made their way inside.

"What do they think they're doing," asked Ron. "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?!"

"You don't use your eyes, do you?" Hermione asked, looking at him. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"I wasn't looking at it's feet! I was a bit preoccupied with it's heads, or maybe you didn't notice! There were three!"

The youngest Weasley male stopped and glared at Riley.

"'This one might be friendly' you said!" he snapped. "'Just keep calm' you said."

He began ascending the stairs, with the others following after him.

"And yet I was the only one who could hear me." Riley shot back. "I said 'don't look them in the eyes', dogs don't like it when you stare at them in the eyes." he added, gesturing to his eyes.

"If you two are done, I believe I was explaining something." Hermione interrupted, looking at them. "It was standing on a trap door, it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something."

Harry, Ron, and Riley stopped to look at her, confused.

"'Guarding something'?" asked Harry.

"That's right." answered Hermione. "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled."

She stormed inside the girl's dormitory, and closed the door behind her.

"Good night." Riley said, as he headed into the boy's dormitory.

"These people need to sort out their priorities." Ron muttered to Harry.

* * *

I planned to update before Halloween, but things happened, and I'm trying to figure out something for my Fairly OddParents fanfiction, and I forgot I was supposed to edit an old fanfic series I posted before. My mind works on overdrive, and then starts glitching out, so I'm trying to work out the issues. Well, here you go. Also, screw deadlines for holidays, I'll update whenever I get the chapter finished. You guys ain't getting any younger, right?

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	5. Strengthening the Bonds

Chapter Five: Strengthening the Bonds

While Harry was out training with Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were heading to the hospital wing to check up on Tony, who was being released that day. As they walked down the corridor, Ron and Riley had told their friend about what they saw the previous night.

"A three-headed dog?" Tony repeated, quietly. "Sounds like that dog from the Greek Mythology."

"But he looks like any other dog you'd see at my mom's work." Riley told him. "Except with three heads, of course. Hermione said the dog was standing on something, too."

"So it must be there to guard something."

"That's what I said." agreed Hermione.

"A dangerous weapon?" asked Ron.

"Another magical creature?" guessed Riley.

"A hermit." joked Tony.

Hermione's response was a smack upside the head, which Ron started snickering at.

"So, when's Harry's very first game?" asked Tony.

"The afternoon after Halloween." replied Riley. "Shame we're not gonna be at grandpa's for Halloween, he loved taking us to the haunted houses."

"You go trick-or-treating?" asked Hermione.

"It was a favorite pasttime growing up." replied Tony.

"The best part was the costumes." agreed Riley. "Tony was in it for the scares, and tricking the school and neighborhood jerks."

Hermione stared at them, astonished at what she had heard, while Ron looked impressed.

"So, uh, what kind of tricks are we talking about?" asked the red head of the group.

"One guy's skin was green for about a week, another guy had his mask glued to his face," Tony described, listing things off on his fingers. "And then there was the snob with the car, I filled his car with glitter, I can't tell you how long it took to find enough glitter, but the look on his face was worth it."

"I can't believe you did all that!" Hermione exclaimed, astounded.

"Hermione, we had to transfer because we both hexed our teacher Prof. Manson's pants down in front of a lot of people." Riley told her.

"Riley!"

"He was a racist, sexist jerk!"

"The lady Prof. Manson was harrassing was so grateful that she took me and Ry out for ice cream, and told us that Prof. Manson had quit." Tony continued, grinning. "See, Hermione? Sometimes standing up to the bully is a good thing."

Ron didn't know what he had found more funnier: Tony and Riley's mischief, or Hermione's face at how casual they had sounded at admitting to it. His face was starting to turn red as he continued to laugh at the stories of Tony's pranks, and how he and Riley had ended up getting in trouble over the years. Eventually, they had found their way outside, and they heard a faint clunk in the distance, causing them to stop in their tracks.

"What was that?" asked Hermione.

Ron looked up, and pointed at a dark colored ball heading through the gap in the statue.

"Bludger!" he shouted.

He, Hermione, and Tony dove for color, while Riley scrambled around in his bag, and took out a textbook. He smacked the bludger as it came closer, and knocked it back where it came.

"Nice hit!" complimented Tony.

Riley looked at his textbook, and smiled.

"Who says books don't save lives?" he chuckled. "Thank you, school book!"

"Riley, that could've killed you!" Hermione exclaimed, storming over to him. "What was that anyway?"

"That would be a bludger, they attack the other players in Quidditch." explained Ron. "Must mean Harry's probably training nearby."

He then went into a long explanation about what Quidditch was, what kind of balls there were, the different positions, and how it was played. By the end of his explanation, Riley and Tony were very interested.

"I like Quidditch." said Tony. "Where do I sign up?"

"I don't think it's gonna be that easy, Tony." explained Ron. "Slytherin's kinda touchy about...Muggleborns."

"I know that, I get called...that name all the time."

"Tony, I'm talking about that they won't let you play on the team."

"Well, I'll just have to prove I'm game enough to play."

"That's my pal." Riley said, grinning at Ron and Hermione. "Dedicated to a fault."

* * *

A few weeks later, in Charms class, the first years were preparing for their final lesson of the day. Prof. Flitwick, an elderly half-dwarf, half human man in green robes, stood on a stack of books with his students sitting at desks on opposing sides of the room. Tony sat behind Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, while Harry sat between Seamus and Ron, who sat on Hermione's right side, and Riley sat on her left.

"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation," explained Prof. Flitwick. "Or the ability to make objects fly. Do you have your feathers?"

He looked around at each of the students, and saw that each had their own feathers, then continued.

"Good. Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing." the elderly teacher reminded his students. "The swish and flick."

He demonstrated the movement by swishing his wand in a near complete circle, then tapping at the the air. The students followed suit to show they had learned it, much to their instructor's joy.

"...and enunciate." Prof. Flitwick concluded. "' _Wingardium Leviosa_ '. Off you go then."

So the students swish and flicked at the air, trying to make their feathers fly with the incantation they had learned, but to no avail. Ron was having the most trouble with it, as he was now waving his wand like he was trying to whack the feather with an invisible mallet. Hermione sighed, and decided to help him out.

"No, stop. Stop. Stop" she told him. "You're going to take someone's eye out."

Ron glared at her, stopping what he was doing. Riley looked at them, and watched as Hermione explained that Ron was pronouncing it wrong, which had annoyed him.

"You do it if you're so clever." Ron snapped, setting down his wand.

"Uh, Ron,-" Riley intervened, gesturing for him to stop.

"No, let's see if she can do better."

Hermione nodded, and pointed her wand at the feather.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_." she spoke, performing the swish-and-flick movement.

To Ron's surprise, the feather began to levitate, and watched as it began to rise up into the air. Riley sunk back in his seat, seeing the look on his face, while Hermione continued levitating the feather into the air with a smile on her face.

"Oh, well done!" Prof. Flitwick exclaimed, proudly. "See here, everyone, Ms. Granger's done it!"

Riley sunk back in his seat, and watched as Ron rested his head in his arms on his stack of books, while Hermione continued making the feather fly higher and higher. He was about to try to levitate his own feather, but then an explosion suddenly went off, causing all the other students to look at one student in particular. Seamus was once again found covered from hair to chin in soot, with his feather badly singed.

"I think we're going to need another feather over here, professor." said Harry.

Most of the other students laughed, while Tony stared at him in amazement.

"How does he keep doing that?" he asked.

"We're trying to figure that out." Riley told him, exasperated.

After class, Riley, Hermione, and Tony walked out of class together, talking about their lesson.

"So, what do you think they're going to do for Halloween here at Hogwarts?" asked Riley.

"Well, Jasmine Willows says it's supposed to be fun." replied Tony. "Sweets, scares, that kind of thing. Minus the costumes and going from house to house to get candy."

"Meh, works for me. So, Hermione, I was wondering, what are your plans for the holidays?"

"For Christmas?" asked Hermione. "I'm going home. Why?"

She then stopped to look at them.

"Wait, do you two live nearby London?" she asked.

"Yeah." both Riley and Tony answered.

"Well, my parents usually go caroling if you're up for it."

"Sure. That sounds like fun." agreed Riley.

"I'm game." added Tony. "I'll send mom and dad a letter, and see if they're okay with it. Ry, I'll ask your parents for you, too."

With that, he took off like the wind down another corridor, while Riley and Hermione began heading back to the Gryffindor Tower to put their stuff away. As they walked back, they heard Ron talking to Harry and a few other Gryffindors in front of them.

"...'it's "Leviosa", not "Leviosar"'!" Ron mimicked, annoyingly.

Riley narrowed his eyes, when he realized that he was referring to what happened in class moments ago, and his hand subconsciously clenched into a fist. He felt angry as his Housemates laughed at Ron making fun of Hermione, and right when she was in earshot.

"It's a nightmare, honestly!" Ron complained, look at Dean, Seamus, and Harry. "No wonder she hasn't got any friends."

Riley made to go grab him by the back of his robes when he saw Hermione push past the group, sniffing. He, Ron, Harry, Dean, and Seamus watched as she took off down the corridor quickly, and out of sight.

"I think she heard you." said Harry.

"She had it coming." Ron defended himself. "Nobody likes a know-it-all."

"But did you have to be a jerk about it?" asked Riley.

The other Gryffindors in front of him turned to look at him, as Riley glared at them.

"You should all be ashamed! All you had to do was ask her to tone it down a bit or something, not insult her when you think she's not around to hear!" he scolded them. "You're all no better than Malfoy and his goons!"

After it became clear that he made his point, Riley took off after Hermione, and followed her down the hall.

"Hermione!" he called. "Hermione, wait!"

"Leave me alone, Riley!" Hermione cried, as she ran.

"Hermione, please, stop. Ron's just being a jerk. Nobody's perfect. Neville and Seamus are living proof of that, same with Tony."

Riley could see that Hermione wasn't listening, and tried again.

"Hermione, please. Ron was wrong, I'm your friend. So is Tony." he pleaded with her. "You saw how irritated he was when he couldn't get that spell right on the first try, he was probably just a little jealous."

Hermione stopped and turned on her heel to look at him, her face tear-streaked and red.

"Well I'm sorry that I was able to get it right on the first try, but he didn't have to be so hurtful about it! I wasn't trying to show off, and I wasn't trying to be a know-it-all!"

Riley couldn't help but feel a little hurt for his friend, and stood there stunned as she continued marching down the hall. After a momentary pause, the male Gryffindor hurried after his Housemate.

"Hermione, wait-" he called.

He stopped when he watched her disappear into the girl's bathroom, and sighed.

"Wonder how Superman would've solved this crisis," he muttered to himself. "'Cause I'm lost."

* * *

Later on, the students were sitting down to dinner, where sure enough, Hogwarts was celebrating with a Halloween theme. Jack-o-Lanterns floated up into the air over the students' heads, and the tables were decorated with Halloween decorations, dishes filled with sweets, and gold coins. Harry scanned up and down the hall, looking for any sign of Hermione or Riley, but to no avail.

"Where's Hermione and Riley?" he asked his Housemates.

"Parvati Patil said she wouldn't come out of the bathroom." explained Neville. "She said that according to Riley Cross that she'd been in there all afternoon, crying. He's been sitting outside the door, waiting and begging her to come out."

Harry looked at Ron, who just shrugged at him. The two were about to resume eating when Prof. Quirrell rushed into the Great Hall, pale-faced and panicked.

"Troll!" he screamed, rushing down the aisle. "In the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon!"

The chatter came to a deathly, silent halt, as all eyes fell on him.

"Thought you ought to know." the timid professor finished.

A microsecond later, he collapsed in a dead faint, and all Hell broke loose. Screams filled the Hall, as students went into a panicked frenzy, until Prof. Dumbledore called for the students to be silent. His voice carried across the Great Hall, stopping the students and calming them down.

"Everyone will please not panic!" he commanded, sternly. "Now, prefects will lead their house to their dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."

The students did as he ordered, and the teachers set off to the dungeons, all moving quickly. As Percy led the Gryffindor first years back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry was wondering how a troll had gotten into Hogwarts.

"How could a troll get in?" he asked.

"Not on it's own, trolls are really stupid." replied Ron. "Probably people playing jokes."

Harry then suddenly tugged on his arm, his expression alarmed.

"What?" asked Ron.

"Hermione and Ry, they don't know!" gasped Harry.

Ron's eyes widened a little in horror, and the two of them rushed back into the corridors. Along the way, they saw Tony rushing their way.

"Tony!" Harry called, hurrying over to him. "Tony, what are you doing here?"

"I heard from Malfoy that Ry was hanging by the girl's bathroom." replied Tony. "Which way is it?"

* * *

While the students were evacuating back to their dormitories, Riley was standing with his back against the wall, nearby the door leading to the girl's bathroom.

"Hermione, you can't stay in there forever." he called. "You have to come out eventually."

"Give me one good reason why I should come out!" demanded Hermione.

Riley opened his mouth to answer, then his jaw dropped in horror as he saw a giant, grey-skinned creature limping his way. It wore a tattered brown vest, and carried a large wooden club.

"Hermione, what's the worse that could happen if a boy ran into the girl's bathroom?" the young Gryffindor male asked.

"Probably expulsion." Hermione answered on the other side.

"I'll take it!"

Riley rushed into the bathroom and pulled the door close behind him, much to Hermione's confusion.

"Riley, what are you doing?" she asked slowly.

Riley couldn't answer articulately, as he was trying to tell his friend about the creature that was outside the door. Hermione rolled her eyes, and made to brush past him, but Riley kept her back.

"For goodness sake, Riley, what is the problem?!" she demanded.

"Monster!" Riley screamed, pointing at the door.

"What are you talking about?!"

Her answer came in the form of the doors opening, revealing the creature on the other side. The two kids slowly backed up away from it, as the monster advanced on them.

"Riley, that would be a troll." Hermione explained, fearfully.

"I thought trolls were smaller than that." said Riley.

The troll continued to advance on them, and Hermione grabbed Riley's hand and yanked him into the stall.

"Get down!" she ordered, pulling him down into a crouching position.

The moment they had crouched down, the stalls suddenly shattered. Hermione screamed and clung onto Riley, shaking. Seconds later, footsteps alerted them to new occupants in the bathroom, and they saw that Harry, Ron, and Tony now stood a few feet away from them.

"Hermione, Riley, move!" yelled Harry.

He, Ron, and Tony hurried over to the pile of debris on the ground behind the troll, and started throwing it at the troll to distract it as the massive beast decimated more of the stalls.

"It's not working!" Tony declared, looking at his friends. "Stupid troll's skin's too thick to feel anything!"

"Less talking, more throwing!" snapped Harry.

They continued throwing more and more of the pieces of wood, while Hermione screamed for help.

"Hey, pea brain!" shouted Ron.

He threw a piece of wood at the troll's head, and that seemed to get it's attention. Not for long though, as it spotted Hermione scrambling over to the sinks. Hermione let out a scream as the troll swung it's club down toward her, and nearly hit her when she crawled under the next sink. The boys all stared, shocked, at how close it came to actually hitting her.

"Help!" Hermione cried out, from her hiding place.

Tony looked around, wondering what to do, when he saw Riley jumping out from the remains of the bathroom stalls, and grabbing onto one of the troll's legs.

"What are you doing, you maniac?!" asked Ron.

"Improvising!" replied Riley.

Harry stared at him for a moment, then nudged Tony.

"Come on!" he told him, drawing his wand.

The two of them charged at the troll, and grabbed onto it's club, as it rose into the air. The troll swung the club into the air again, and made to smash at the ground again, but both Tony and Harry jumped onto the troll's back. Harry sat on the troll's shoulders, while Tony hung onto the collar of it's vest.

"Harry! Situation!" Tony screamed, as he tried to pull himself up. "Situation!"

"Hold on, Tony!" Harry yelled to him.

The troll suddenly started bucking, and tried to get the three kids off of him. Harry grabbed onto the troll's head to try and steady himself, but the hand holding his wand slipped as the head jerked downward for a moment. A squishing sound alerted the troll, Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Harry had accidentally stuck his wand up the troll's nose.

"Ugh!" grimaced Ron.

"What?" asked Riley.

"What happened?" Tony added, looking up at Harry.

"Don't ask." Hermione told them.

Suddenly, the troll began bucking violently, and finally, it's hand had found Harry's foot.

"Tony!" shouted Harry.

Tony climbed up and clung to the troll's hand as it yanked Harry off it's shoulders.

"Do something!" Harry yelled to Ron.

Tony gasped when the troll let out a ferocious bellow, and reached for Harry's hands. The troll made to swing it's club at Harry, but the Gryffindor student reached up in time and grabbed Tony's hand so the club could miss him. Meanwhile, Ron was looking around for some way to help his friends.

"What?!" he asked.

Harry lowered himself again, now that the club was away from him.

"Anything!" he answered.

Ron watched as Harry reached up again to grab Tony's hand, and tried to think of something. He could see that Harry was starting to get worn out, and that meant it was only a matter of time before he was finished.

"Hurry up!" Harry yelled.

Hermione watched as Ron whipped out his wand, and reminded him of the wand movement they had learned earlier.

"Swish and flick!" she called.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Ron shouted, waving his wand at the troll.

As he said this, the troll made to swing it's club at Harry, who reached up to grab Tony's hand before the club hit him. However, the club had suddenly disappeared from it's grip.

"Where'd the club go?" asked Tony.

He saw that Harry was looking at the air above the troll, and followed his gaze to see the club was floating over the troll's head. The troll followed their gaze and looked up also. As it did, the club fell and struck the beast on the head with a dull thud.

"Cool." Ron said, grinning in awe.

The troll groaned and dropped Harry to the ground, and Tony clambered off after him. Riley looked up and saw that the troll was starting to look drowsy and let go of it's leg, then hurried back against the wall. The troll slowly turned to face Harry, Ron, and Tony, and stumbled forward. Harry backed away, still on the ground, and watched as the troll looked like it was ready to collapse. Tony darted forward and yanked on the back of his friend's robes.

"Timber!" he called.

Harry felt himself being pulled backwards, and just in time, too. The troll collapsed inches away from where Harry's feet was, and the room fell silent, with the exception of the water spraying out of the broken pipes. Riley and Hermione walked towards the troll, and looked down at it.

"Is it...dead?" Hermione asked, quietly.

"I don't think so." replied Harry. "Just knocked out."

He reached down and retrieved his wand from the troll's nose, and saw that it was nearly covered in snot, much to the five kids' disgust.

"Ugh, troll boogers." groaned Harry.

He made to wipe the snot off on his robes, but instead Tony took it from him.

"Don't, Harry." the latter said, walking to the sink. "I got it."

"What was a troll doing here anyway?" asked Riley. "Bit of a safety hazard, isn't it?"

Tony, who had been rinsing the troll snot off of Harry's wand, paused, and looked at his friends.

"Didn't Prof. Quirrell say that the troll was heading for the dungeons?" he asked. "Yet it ended up here."

"Just be glad no one got hurt." said Harry.

Tony walked back over and returned his now-clean wand to him, and then they were joined by Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Quirrell, and Prof. Snape. Upon entering, Prof. McGonagall gave a gasp of horror at the sight of the troll laying on the ground.

"Oh, my goodness!" she gasped.

Her eyes then fell on Harry, Ron, and Tony, who were standing by the troll's head.

"Explain yourselves, the three of you!" the head of Gryffindor demanded.

The three students started to try and defend themselves and explain the situation when Hermione stepped forward.

"It's my fault, Prof. McGonagall." she declared, quickly.

The room fell near-silent again, as all eyes fell on her.

"Ms. Granger?" Prof. McGonagall spoke, surprised.

"I went looking for the troll. I read about it, and thought I could handle it." explained Hermione. "But I was wrong, and Riley here tried his best to warn me, I wouldn't listen. If Harry, Ron, and Tony hadn't come and found us, we'd probably be dead."

Ron and Tony looked at each other, stunned, while Riley looked back down at the troll. Harry, however, looked at the ground, and noticed that Prof. Snape's leg was torn and bloody.

"Be that as it may," Prof. McGonagall started, furiously. "It was an extremely foolish thing to do."

As she continued to scold her model student, Prof. Snape quickly covered his injured leg with his cloak to hide it from view. Harry locked eyes with the professor, and his eyes narrowed a little in curiosity, then returned his attention to Prof. McGonagall, who had deducted five points from their House for Hermione's supposed lack of judgment.

"...And for you three gentlemen, and Mr. Cross over there," the professor continued, turning her attention to the four boys. "I just hope you realize how fortunate you are, not many first-year students could take on a fully-grown mountain troll, and live to tell the tale. Five points..."

The four boys prepared themselves for the big punishment.

"...will be awarded to each of you." said Prof. McGonagall.

Harry, Ron, and Tony looked at one another, amazed.

"For sheer dumb luck." the teacher concluded.

With that, she stormed out of the bathroom. Tony departed next with Prof. Snape, who patted his student on the shoulder. Then finally Hermione followed Ron and Harry out, while Prof. Quirrell remained behind.

"Perhaps you ought to go." the turban-clad teacher said to the students. "It might wake up."

Riley looked at the troll as he slowly walked past it, and suddenly the troll let out a ferocious growl, startling him and the teacher.

"That might be soon." Riley agreed, looking up at Prof. Quirrell.

He hurried out of the bathroom, then caught sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were talking.

"Good of you to get us out of trouble like that." said Harry.

"Mind you, we did save her life." Ron pointed out.

"Mind _you_ , she might not have needed saving if you hadn't insulted her."

"...What are friends for."

Hermione looked over at Ron, and saw Riley walking their way out of the corner of her eye, and looked at him.

"Come on, Ry." she called.

Riley nodded, and ran until he caught up with them.

"So, what now?" he asked.

"Guess we go back to the Tower." replied Harry.

"Bummer. I'm starving."

The two reached the Fat Lady's portrait, and gave the password, then headed inside. Much to their surprise, the students were all still awake, and they were eating dinner and drinking goblets of juice.

"Looks like you're in luck, Riley." said Ron.

"Thank you, Powers that Be." muttered Riley.

The four of them each got a plate of food and some juice, and sat together by the fire.

"So, are we all friends now?" asked Harry.

"That depends, are we gonna have a repeat of this afternoon?" Riley asked, looking at Ron and Hermione. "If we're all gonna be friends, we have to work out a compromise."

"That's right. So, can you two call a truce?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, then smiled, and shook hands.

"Deal." said Ron.

"Deal." agreed Hermione.

* * *

Just goes to show, sometimes, you need more than a shove to bring friends together. Sometimes, you need a big frickin' mountain troll to do the trick. I'm sure I'm not the first to say that, but I won't be the last. Moving on, next chapter is Harry's first Quidditch match.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	6. More Questions than Answers

Chapter Six: More Questions than Answers

"Take a bit of toast, mate." Ron encouraged Harry. "Go on."

He, Hermione, and Riley had sat at the Gryffindor House's table during breakfast with Harry, and had been trying to get him to eat. Today would be his first ever Quidditch match, and the young boy was nervous about the whole thing.

"Ron's right, Harry." Hermione agreed, pleadingly. "You're gonna need your strength today."

"I'm not hungry." Harry told them.

"It's just the jitters." explained Riley. "Harry, you're gonna do just fine. We got faith in ya."

This seemed to cheer Harry up a little, but he still refused to eat. Then to the four Gryffindors' surprise, Prof. Snape strode over to them.

"Good luck today, Potter." he greeted.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley looked up at him, and saw a smirk on his face.

"Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should easy work for you." the potions professor continued. "Even if it is against Slytherin."

He looked between the four, then limped away, leaving them staring at him from their seats.

"That was nice of him." said Riley.

Ron slowly turned to look at him with a stunned expression like he could not believe Riley had said that.

"Prof. Snape? Nice?" he repeated. "Did that troll hit you over the head or something?"

"He wasn't being sarcastic, he was being a good sport." Riley answered, before lifting up his goblet to take a drink.

"How can you tell?"

"I'd be more interested why he's limping." said Harry. "At least it explains the blood."

The others looked at him, confused.

"Blood?" Hermione repeated.

"Listen, last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion, so he could get past that three-headed dog." Harry whispered to her and his other two friends. "But he got himself bit, that's why he's limping."

"But why would anyone go near that dog?"

"Death wish?" guessed Riley.

Hermione looked over at him with a scowl, and elbowed him in the ribs, making him give a sharp grunt of pain.

"Anyway, the day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults," Harry continued, looking from Riley and Hermione to Ron. "Said it was Hogwarts business, very secret."

"So, you're saying...?" Hermione realized, her eyes widening a little in surprise.

"That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants."

"But what is it exactly?" asked Riley. "A weapon? Some sort of rare item?"

"I don't know."

Suddenly, the four of them heard an owl screeching, and looked up. Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, soared into the window, carrying a long package in her talons. Shadow, Riley's owl, was assisting her and carried the back of the package. Once they were over the spot where Harry and his friends were sitting, they dropped the package in front of Harry, and flew off as Harry caught it with both hands.

"Bit early for mail, isn't it?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"But I...I never get mail." Harry whispered, stunned.

"Let's open it." Ron declared, smiling.

The three of them and Riley worked together to unwrap the package, and within it was a broomstick with neatly trimmed twigs, and a polished wooden handle.

"It's a broomstick." Harry whispered, awed.

But he was not as in awe as Ron, who had a smile on his face.

"That's not just a broomstick, Harry," he corrected him. "It's a Nimbus 2000!"

"The fastest model yet." Riley nodded, looking up at him.

"But who...?" Harry wondered, as he looked around the Great Hall.

His eyes scanned the whole room quickly until they rested on the staff's table, where Prof. McGonagall sat, petting Hedwig's feathers. Seated beside Hedwig was Riley's owl, Shadow. Harry saw her smiling at him, and realized that she was the one who sent the broom, and gave her a grateful smile in return. Time passed on, and then Harry set off with the Gryffindor Quidditch team to the locker rooms. Ron, Hermione, and Riley took off to get some good seats to cheer their team and friend on, and along the way, they met up with Tony.

"Hey, guys!" Tony greeted, cheerfully.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" asked Ron.

"I'm gonna cheer on my friend."

"Your Housemates are going to kill you."

"What's your point? They already hate me 'cause I'm Muggleborn."

Ron was about to argue, then they were joined by another supporter in the form of Hagrid.

"Hello there!" he greeted, smiling down at them.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Ron greeted back, looking up at him.

"Afternoon!" said Riley.

Hagrid looked down at him and chuckled.

"Now let me see if I got this right," he said, smiling. "Riley Cross, the kid who carries those little books around with him?"

"Yep!" Riley nodded, grinning. "And they're Superman comic books, my grandpa from America gave them to me so I wouldn't forget him!"

"But you're focusing on your school work, right?"

"Yes, sir. Mom's rules are that homework comes first before fun, unless she or the teachers say otherwise."

Hagrid chuckled again and turned his attention to Tony.

"And you're Tony Gabriel, I heard you helped break Mr. Longbottom's fall during flying lessons." he continued. "I was surprised when they told me a Slytherin did that, but then Harry explained it all to me. You're alright in my book."

"Thanks, sir." grinned Tony.

Then Hagrid's eyes fell on Hermione, who looked back up at him, nervously.

"Unless I'm mistaken, you must be...Hermione Granger," the giant said, smiling. "I've heard many great things about you, young lady. Around the first week of school, I've heard Prof. McGonagall talking to Prof. Dumbledore about you, said you were the brightest witch of your age."

Hermione blushed in response, and looked at the floor, shyly. Then the sound of rushing footsteps and kids cheering and yelling snapped the five back to attention, and Hagrid led the four first years to the bleachers. They gathered by the front in the Gryffindor's box, where several other students of the Gryffindor house were standing, some with red and orange flags or banners, and others with binoculars. The playing field was decorated beautifully. There was a ring of sand around the grassy oval-shaped field. On each side of the field were the three ring-shaped hoops, which looked like bubble wands of different sizes, and they were surrounded by a bigger sandy field.

"Where are the players?" asked Tony.

"They'll be out in a moment." replied Ron.

Sure enough, the crowd's cheers started getting louder and suddenly fourteen people flew out onto the field on their broomsticks. Seven of them were dressed in the Gryffindor's red and gold colors, and seven were in Slytherin's emerald green and silver.

"Hello, welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season!" Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor student who was working as the commentator, greeted the crowd. "Today's game: Slytherin vs. Gryffindor!"

The crowd exploded into cheers, but none more louder than the Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses.

"Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor!" most of the students had chanted.

Tony dug out his binoculars, and peered around the field for any sign of Harry, and finally spotted him hovering high above the field.

"Potter ho!" he shouted, pointing at Harry.

"He still looking nervous?" asked Riley.

"Doesn't look like it."

The players then started flying towards the center of the field, and stared off at each other. Harry floated just overhead the other Gryffindors. Another Slytherin player floated just overhead the other Slytherins, indicating that he was the other team's Seeker.

"Show no fear, Harry!" shouted Tony.

"Knock 'em dead, just not literally!" agreed Riley.

While the players gathered, Madam Hooch started walking out toward the field, where below the players, another broomstick, and a trunk lay waiting.

"The players take their position, as Madam Hooch steps onto the field to begin the game." Lee announced, over the microphone.

Madam Hooch stopped next to the trunk, and looked up at the players above her.

"Now, I want a nice clean game...from all of you." she declared.

The Quidditch coach looked down at the trunk, and knelt down to open it. Two darker balls shot up into the air like they were shot out of cannons, and through the eyes of those who were peering into their binoculars, a much smaller golden ball flew into the air a little.

"The Bludgers are up, followed by the Golden Snitch," Lee announced, watching the balls fly into the air. "Remember, the Snitch is worth 150 points. The Seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game."

It was at this point that Riley and Tony had noticed that the crowd had become deadly quiet. They saw that their friends were staring down at Madam Hooch with quiet intensity. Madam Hooch picked up the last ball, a much larger ball than the others that could fly, and looked up at the players, then threw it up into the air as high as she could throw it.

"The Quaffle is released!" Lee shouted, excitement in his voice. "And the game begins!"

Immediately three players on each team began scrambling forward into the air on their broomsticks, trying to get the ball, while the other players separated. The students exploded into cheers again, cheering on their favorite teams. A Gryffindor girl who was in possession of the Quaffle flew into the air, dodging the Slytherins gunning for her, and was nearly tackled by a male Slytherin player, who nearly hit a box full of adults sitting higher above the students' bleachers. The girl made her way for the Slytherin team's hoops and threw the ball into the highest one as soon as she was close enough. The moment the Quaffle went through it, a bell rang, indicating that the Gryffindor team scored, causing many students to cheer.

"Angelina Johnson scores!" Lee announced, excitedly, while the girl high-fived another Gryffindor player. "Ten points for Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors cheered in celebration, and Tony turned to Ron and Riley and high-fived them.

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"We're in the lead!" Ron cheered, clapping happily.

"Well done!" roared Hagrid, who eagerly shook his fist in the air.

"Slytherin takes the Quaffle." Lee commentated from his seat. "Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint."

The audience watched as a taller Slytherin male held the Quaffle under one arm, while piloting his broom with the other hand, and weaved in and out of the players and bludgers in his way. He saw Angelina coming his way, and kicked her when she got close enough, stunning her, while he flew on ahead.

"Hey, that was foul!" Tony shouted, stomping his foot on the ground, angrily. "Are you blind, ref?!"

"Relax, Tony!" Riley said, elbowing him. "Look!"

Tony looked up to see Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Keeper, flying up to knock the Quaffle that Flint had thrown towards a hoop away. A Gryffindor Chaser had caught it, while the Slytherin captain snarled at his opponent.

"Hah!" cheered Tony. "Cheaters never prosper!"

"Isn't he supposed to be cheering for his team?" Seamus asked, looking at Ron.

"Oh, let him be." Ron told him. "Tony's on our side, and he's Harry's friend."

Back in the game, two of the Gryffindor Chasers were passing the Quaffle between each other, as they dodged the Slytherin Chasers, until one of them passed it around the hoops to Angelina, who threw it into the center hoop, earning another ten points for the Gryffindor team. Most of the crowd burst into cheers yet again, while the Slytherin students groaned in disappointment.

"Another ten points to Gryffindor!" shouted Lee.

In the bleachers, Tony could hardly contain his excitement, as he cheered on the opposing team.

"Yeah!" he roared, happily. "Yeah! How do you like that?!"

"Whoo-hoo!" cried Riley.

A Slytherin Chaser regained possession of the Quaffle, and elbowed Angelina, who was passing by him, and started making his way to the Gryffindor team's hoops. He threw the ball, only for Oliver to catch it, and throw it back towards his teammates. Unfortunately, this would be the last save he'd make for this game, as Marcus Flint snatched the bat from one of his team's Beaters, and smacked a Bludger at Oliver. Oliver hits the hoop hard, and started plummeting toward the ground, while the crowd groaned and booed at the cheap shot.

"Aw, come on!" shouted Riley. "That's against the rules!"

"I can't believe that's how my House plays." muttered Tony. "Dishonorable!"

"It's about to get worse, too." said Ron. "Now nobody's protecting the goals."

"Can't anyone else do it?" asked Riley.

Ron just shook his head, indicating that was just not possible. They resumed watching the match, and Flint had just scored a goal for his team. It was now twenty to ten, and the worst was yet to come. Flint and another player were gunning for one of the Gryffindor Chasers, Angelina, who was in possession of the Quaffle.

"Look out!" Tony shouted, as they drew closer and closer to the Chaser.

Too late. Angelina was now boxed in by the two Slytherins, and they pushed her towards a much taller box covered in Gryffindor decor. Angelina fell to the ground, and was now unable to play. Meanwhile, one of the other Slytherin Chasers regained possession of the Quaffle, and was now headed for the unguarded Gryffindor hoops. He knocked the ball into the goal with the end of his broom, and scored. It was now all tied up.

"I wonder if this is how they won seven years in a row." Tony said, disgusted. "When I get the chance to play on the team, I'm not goin' to tolerate this stupid cheating."

"Good luck." said Ron.

"Look!" Hagrid said, pointing upward. "Harry's on the move!"

Riley and Tony, who had taken out his own binoculars at this point, peered into their own binoculars, and saw that Harry was chasing after something. Suddenly, Harry's broom stopped in it's tracks, and started bucking around wildly.

"What's goin' on with Harry's broomstick?" Hagrid asked, concerned.

Hermione looked up at Harry through her binoculars, then began to scan the area to see what could be causing the malfunction. Then she stopped, and her jaw slowly dropped in horror. She looked at her friends, worry written on her face.

"It's Snape!" she told them. "He's jinxing the broom!"

"Jinxing the broom?!" Ron repeated, horrified. "What do we do?!"

"Leave it to me!"

Ron, Riley, and Tony watched as the Gryffindor female hurried off, shoving her binoculars into the former's hands. The three of them then continued to look at Harry through their own binoculars, but Riley decided to look back at where Prof. Snape was sitting. However, something interesting caught his attention. Not only were Prof. Snape's lips moving, but Prof. Quirrell's lips were moving as well.

"Tony, look over at where Snape's sitting." Riley told his friend.

Tony did as he was told, and his eyes narrowed from what he saw.

"What's Prof. Quirrell doing?" asked Tony.

"Good question." agreed Riley.

Suddenly, several gasps and screams were heard from around the two boys, and Riley switched his focus back to Harry, and saw he was now hanging off his broomstick by a hand.

"Come on, Hermione!" Ron pleaded, panicking.

Riley and Tony went back to watching the two professors, and mentally prayed that whatever Hermione was up to would happen soon. Suddenly, Prof. Snape had broke eye contact with Harry, and was turning his attention to something else, knocking over various people in the box in the process. Prof. Quirrel was one of those people, and he got back up just as Prof. Snape looked back at the match.

"Harry's back on his broom!" shouted Neville.

He and the other students, minus most of the Slytherins, started cheering Harry on, with Hagrid joining in. Harry chased after the Slytherin Seeker, who was chasing after the Golden Snitch, and tackled into him. A tackling match ensued between them, until the Slytherin Seeker knocked Harry further away, but Harry swooped around a box, and resumed chase. The two players started diving down, towards the ground, with the Slytherin Seeker pulling up before Harry did, and Harry pulled up after a close shave of nearly hitting the ground. He was now slowly standing up on his broomstick, reaching out for the Golden Snitch in front of him, and took a step forward. He tumbled off his broom, and onto the ground, causing the crowd to gasp sharply. Several people started gasping and oohing as Harry started to retch.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Riley.

"Looks like he's gonna be sick." replied Hagrid.

"Oh, this can't be pretty." muttered Tony.

Just as he said that, Harry coughed up the Golden Snitch into his hands.

"On the other hand." Tony said, with a shrug. "Or I guess in this case, _in_ his hand."

"He's got the Snitch!" Lee shouted through his microphone. "Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!"

As soon as he completed that sentence, Madam Hooch rose into the air on her broomstick and blew into her whistle loudly, signaling the end of the game.

"Gryffindor wins!" she declared.

The audience burst into cheers, while the students and staff in the Slytherin stands groaned and moaned. Riley and Tony turned to each other and high-fived each other.

"He did it!" yelled Riley.

"Harry did it alright!" screamed Tony. "His first game! He got the Snitch and won the game for his team on his first game!"

They watched as Harry raised the Golden Snitch into the air for all to see, while the crowd began to chant in excitement.

* * *

Later on, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were talking to Hagrid about what had happened during the Quidditch match, and what they thought was causing Harry's broom to act so violently.

"Nonsense!" Hagrid said, as he and the four Gryffindors walked outside. "Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?"

"Who knows, why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween?" asked Harry.

Hagrid looked at him, surprised.

"Who told you about Fluffy?" he interrogated.

"'Fluffy'?" Ron repeated, in disbelief.

"That thing has a name?" asked Hermione.

"Of course he's got a name. He's mine."

"I like it." said Riley. "Think about it, guys. Would you be scared of a dog named 'Fluffy'?"

"He's got a point." Harry agreed.

Hagrid smiled at Riley in appreciation before continuing.

"Thanks, I bought him off an Irish feller I met at the pub last year." he went on. "Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" Harry pressed on.

Hagrid then realized that he was spilling confidential information.

"Shouldn't have said that." he muttered, before rounding on the kids. "No more questions! Don't ask anymore questions! That's top secret, that is."

"But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it." Harry argued.

"Codswallop! Prof. Snape is a Hogwarts teacher!"

Hermione then faced him, as the group came to a halt.

"Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one." she explained. "I've read all about them."

"She's not yanking your chain, sir." Riley agreed, jerking a thumb at her.

"Anyway, you've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking."

"Exactly." agreed Harry.

Then a look of remembrance dawned on Riley's face. He was about to tell the others about Prof. Quirrell doing the same thing as Prof. Snape did, when Hagrid got on the students' cases.

"Now listen to me, all four of you, and you can tell little Tony this, too." Hagrid began, looking between them. "You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is between Prof. Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

The moment those words came out of his mouth, the four students looked at him in confusion and interest.

"'Nicholas Flamel'?" Harry repeated, curiously.

Hagrid's face paled, and he walked away muttering to himself that he should not have told them that.

"Nicholas Flamel." Harry repeated the name again to his friends. "Who's Nicholas Flamel?"

Hermione, for the first time as far as her friends knew, could not provide an answer. Meanwhile, Riley was looking back at Hagrid, who was still quietly berating himself for telling such private information.

"Anyone else feeling bad about this?" he asked.

"Kind of." replied Ron.

* * *

So, Harry's won his first Quidditch match, and Riley and Tony discover that all might not be as it seems after all. Now they've got more questions than answers when Hagrid discloses some very interesting information to them.


	7. Holiday Break

Chapter Seven: Holiday Break

The holiday seasons had finally arrived, and that meant that the castle would mostly be empty. Among those who were staying was Harry, while Ron, Hermione, Riley, and Tony were all returning home for break. The latter three already had their things packed, and were carrying their trunks and cages down to the Great Hall, where they'd say their goodbyes to Harry for the break.

"Who knows, maybe he will know something about our mystery man." said Tony.

"Our dads are _Muggle_ archaeologists, Tony, I don't think they'll know who we're talking about." Riley pointed out. "We'll just have to scan through our books, and see if we can find anything on him, while Harry search for clues in the school."

"Let's keep our fingers crossed, boys." Hermione said, looking between them. "We're bound to find something about this person."

They stopped when they finally reached the entrance to the Great Hall, and looked inside. Prof. Flitwick was materializing Christmas ornaments for the already decorated tree that Hagrid had brought in moments ago, while Harry and Ron were seen playing a game of chess at a table nearby. Ron had just taken another piece, when Harry was making his next move. Hermione led Riley and Tony over to where their friends were sitting, when Ron declared his next move.

"Queen to E5." he spoke.

The five of them watched as the red queen piece moved forward on its own, and stood up, grabbed her chair, and swung it into the white knight piece, breaking it apart.

"That's totally barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed, surprised.

"Not to mention that just gave 'demolishing your opponent' a whole new meaning." Tony told her, also surprised.

"Can't argue with you there, Tony." agreed Riley.

"That's wizard's chess." Ron explained, as he picks up the remains of Harry's knight.

He then saw that the three behind Harry were all with their trunks.

"I see you've all packed." the youngest Weasley male observed.

"I see you haven't." Hermione retorted, noticing that Ron had yet to pack his things.

"Change of plans, my parents went to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute." Tony intervened, curiously. "Dragons?"

Ron nodded in confirmation, and Tony turned to look at Riley.

"How cool is that?" he asked.

Riley stared at his best friend, nervously for a moment, then slowly turned to look at Ron.

"Your brother doesn't give free samples, does he?" he asked.

"Nah, it's not allowed." Ron replied, casually.

"Moving on, guys, Ron can help Harry now if he's going to be here." announced Hermione. "He's going to the library to look up information on Nicholas Flamel."

Ron didn't look too happy about that bit of news.

"We've looked a hundred times!" he groaned.

"Not in the restricted section." Hermione told them, quietly. "Happy Christmas."

With that, she turned to leave, leaving her friends behind.

"I think we've had a bad influence on her." Ron muttered to his friends.

"Think that's bad?" asked Tony. "We're not getting left off the hook at home either."

"Come on." Riley said, turning away. "We better get moving. See you after the holidays, guys."

"See you." Harry called, as he watched his two friends leave.

Riley and Tony left the Great Hall, and followed Hermione, who was standing by the doorway waiting for them, outside to the carriages. The carriages took them to Hogsmeade, where they would board the Hogwarts Express. Throughout the trip back to King's Cross Station, the trio were reading their books to search for any mention of Nicholas Flamel, but to no avail. Then, just four-fifths of the way there, Riley's face brightened up.

"I just thought of something!" the male Gryffindor gasped. "My brother graduated from Hogwarts last year!"

"Your big brother attended Hogwarts?" asked Hermione. "Wait, does he have all of his school books still?" she added, realizing where this conversation was headed.

"He should. Which means, we could find what we're looking for in those books."

The train pulled to a stop a little while later, and students started departing from the train to meet with their families. The three Muggleborn students got off the train, and saw their parents standing together and talking. One of the women, one with long dark brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, turned to them, and smiled.

"Hermione!" she called.

Hermione rushed over to her, and hugged her tightly.

"Hello, mother!" she greeted.

Riley and Tony pulled their trunks along behind them, and went to join the adults waiting for them, then Riley stopped, feeling someone was watching them. He turned around, and saw a man with long, platinum-blond hair standing on the platform, dressed in black robes with a cane in his hands. His piercing grey eyes bore straight into Riley's blue eyes, as they stared each other down, and the older man was looking at the boy with a look of disgust which subconsciously made Riley's eyebrows twitch with anger. Only after Prof. Cross had grasped his son's shoulder had the two broken eye contact.

"Son, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were talking to you." he called.

Riley looked up at him, and saw that Hermione, her parents, and Tony and his father were all looking at him, concerned.

"Sorry." he apologized, sheepishly.

* * *

Soon, Riley, Tony, and their fathers got into Prof. Cross' car, and they headed off toward the Cross family's home, and Tony saw Riley was staring intensely at the seat in front of him.

"Hey, ease up, Superboy, don't go burning a hole in the seat with your heat vision." he joked.

"Who was that guy you were staring at anyway?" asked Prof. Gabriel. "He was giving us the stink eye earlier before the train showed up."

"I don't know." replied Riley. "But I don't like the way he was looking at me. It's the same kind of look Malfoy and his goons give us sometimes."

"'Malfoy'?" repeated Prof. Cross. "Isn't he the boy you two were writing to us about?"

"Yeah, he's a snobby rich kid with an attitude problem." explained Tony. "He calls me, Ry, and Hermione this really awful name all the time in my dorm, and Prof. Snape can't do much about it 'cause the dad's loaded with cash and helps the school out a lot. Riley's even taken to calling him 'Lex Luthor'."

Riley looked up to see his father and his friend's dad smirking, and looked between them.

"He is!" he exclaimed, dramatically throwing his hands in the air. "They're so much alike! They're rich, they're annoying, they think they're untouchable, and they have a problem with popular good guys!"

"Son, I think you've read way too many of your grandpa's comic books." chuckled Prof. Cross.

"Speaking of books, dad, do we still have Deran's old school books?"

"Why, do you plan on studying during break?"

The two eleven year olds in the back seat looked at one another, wondering if they should tell their fathers about the reason, but decided against it.

"Yeah, we wanna try and out-ace Hermione on the next test." Tony lied, casually. "We made a wager with her that we'd score higher than her next time."

"She's the smartest student of our year." explained Riley. "And Tony and I were joking about how if we studied hard enough that we'd get a higher grade than her, and she overheard us talking about it, and so we made a bet."

Prof. Cross and Prof. Gabriel shook their heads at the children, small smiles on their faces. Finally, the car pulled into the driveway, and the four males exited the vehicle, and headed into the house, where Dr. Cross and her youngest son, Evan, were waiting.

"Riley! Tony!" cheered Evan.

He rushed over to the two wizards and hugged them, while Prof. Cross and Prof. Gabriel placed their coats on the coatrack.

"Did you bring anything for me?" asked Evan.

"Yes, we brought you some magic candy." replied Riley. "How would you like to try a piece of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?"

"Oh, no." groaned Prof. Cross.

"Didn't Minerva and Albus mention those?" asked Prof. Gabriel.

"Yes they did, and they aren't exaggerating when they say 'every flavor'."

Riley handed Evan a green bean, and watched as he casually tossed it into his mouth, then began to chew it. Slowly, the seven year old's expression changed from curiosity to disgust, then finally one of disgust, then he finally ran out of the room.

"What flavor was that?" asked Dr. Cross.

"Broccoli." replied Riley. "Ron's brothers showed me a chart on how to tell the flavors by the colors. So, mom, where are Der's old school books?"

"I left them in a box up in the attic, I was planning to send them out to him in a few weeks."

The adults watched as Riley and Tony quickly took off up the stairs, then looked at each other, stunned.

"If Evan shows the same gifts as Ry and Tony, we're sending him to that school with them." declared Prof. Cross.

* * *

On Christmas Eve, Hermione and her parents arrived to the Cross home to go caroling with the Crosses and the Gabriels, and Hermione walked up the stairs to Riley's room to go get her friends. Upon reaching the door, she heard the sounds of music playing in the room, and opened the door to find Riley sitting on his chair, and Tony laying on the bed, both with open heavy-looking school books in their hands. Riley was reading a book titled "Standard Book of Spells- Grade 6", and Tony was reading "Wizards are from Neptune, and Witches are from Saturn".

"Any luck?" she asked.

"Zip." replied Tony. "Gone through all the books, and no mention of our mystery man. But did you know that they make books on relationships in the wizarding world?"

Hermione just raised her eyebrows in surprise, indicating that she did not know that.

"Let's hope that Harry and Ron managed to find something." she said, slowly walking to the side of the room.

"Here's hoping." muttered Tony.

"I'm done for the night." grunted Riley.

"Same here."

While the boys were stacking their books back on Riley's desk, Hermione stood in front of a bookshelf and studied the contents. One shelf was stocked with cassettes and CDs by various artists, such as Bon Jovi, Dio, Michael Jackson, Queen, and Della Reese. The shelf beneath it was stocked with vinyl records and video tapes, and below that were Riley's novels and comics.

"Nice collection." she commented.

"Thanks." replied Riley. "Some of those are Tony's and Evan's, too."

"Yeah, you won't see me singing and dancing to Michael Jackson when I think nobody's looking." Tony cracked, turning away from his friends.

Riley's face reddened within microseconds, as Hermione slowly turned to look at him, trying not to laugh.

"Tony!" whined Riley.

"Smooth Criminal here would be moonwalking and spinning as he got ready for school," Tony continued, grinning. "I should've asked Harry and Ron if he still does it."

"No, I don't! And stop teasing me about it!"

Hermione smiled at the two boys, then turned and walk out of the bedroom door, leaving them to their arguing. Dr. Cross, who had pulled on her winter boots, looked up at her from the couch.

"Are they coming?" she asked.

"They'll be a while." replied Hermione. "They're having another argument."

"What about this time?"

"Riley and Michael Jackson."

Dr. Cross rolled her eyes, and stood up, walking towards the staircase.

"If you're not down here in the next thirty seconds, boys, there will be no hot cocoa later!" she called up to the two eleven year old boys.

"We'll be right down!" Riley and Tony responded, simultaneously.

* * *

After a while of Christmas caroling, the three families returned to the house, shivering from the cold. The first thing they saw was a pair of brown shoes set nearby the coat rack, which had a single dark gray overcoat hanging on it.

"Who's here?" asked Evan.

Riley's face brightened in a second, as he quickly kicked off his shoes, then ran into the living room, where an elderly man with short gray hair cut in the same way as Riley and Prof. Cross' was standing in. He was dressed in a white dress shirt, and a dark blue suit with matching pants, with a pair of white cotton socks.

"Grandpa Neil!" the younger boy exclaimed.

"There's one of my favorite little troublemakers!" said Neil.

"Hey, we didn't get into any trouble this year!" Tony defended, as he walked into the room.

Neil simply laughed as he pulled the two boys into a big hug. Evan and Hermione walked towards the room, and watched as the older man released the two children.

"'Didn't get into any trouble this year'?" Neil repeated, surprised. "I find that hard to believe. What sort of mischief are you two up to?"

Hermione forced herself not to say anything, she did not want to risk the old man getting a heart attack by telling him and the other adults that they had fought a troll on Halloween, and then there was the matter of the enigmatic Nicholas Flamel. Instead, she decided to change the subject.

"So, you're the grandpa that Riley's told me about." she spoke. "The one behind his addiction to comics."

"Guilty, miss." admitted Neil. "You must be a school friend of theirs?"

"Yes, I am Hermione Granger."

Neil walked over to shake her hand, and smiled politely.

"Pleased to meet you." he responded. "Oh, and speaking of comic books though. I picked up some more for you, Riley, since you seem to like them so much." he added, walking back over to the couch, where a paper bag was seated on.

Tony rolled his eyes at the sight of his best friend's excited grin. Riley rushed over to his grandfather and took the bag from him, then started digging into it for a comic book. He pulled out a small book with a picture of a man in a black cowl and cape on it, fighting against a green-haired clown in a purple suit with an evil smile.

"This hero is called 'Batman', and he often fights alongside Superman." explained Neil. "People call him 'the World's Greatest Detective'."

"God help me." muttered Tony. "Superboy's got a new hero to look up to."

"Jealous?" asked Riley.

"Boys." sighed Hermione.

Mr. Granger poked his head around the corner and called for his daughter, letting her know that they were getting ready to leave.

"I'll see you guys on the train." said Hermione.

"See you." agreed Tony.

"Have a good Christmas." added Riley.

They watched their friend run off, then Riley opened his comic book to read from it. Tony watched as he scanned the pages, and shook his head.

"Oy." he muttered.

* * *

I apologize for taking so long, but writer's block struck again. So, in the risk of sounding like Zim: "CURSE YOU, WRITER'S BLOCK! CURSE YOU!". I apologize for the short chapter as well. So, this chapter reveals a little bit more about Riley and Tony, and debuted the appearance of Riley's grandfather from America, who is behind his addiction to comic books. I'll update as soon as I can. I promise that this time, it will be shorter than last time.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.

Update (2/10/16): Okay, to the anonymous reviewer, I apologize for not doing thorough research on Nicholas Flamel myself. I planned on them not finding out anything this chapter.


	8. The Plot Thickens

Chapter Eight: The Plot Thickens

The weeks went by, and still the five preteens had not found anything on Nicholas Flamel. Now it was nearing finals week, and while Harry, Hermione, Riley, and Tony were studying, Ron was going through his chocolate frog card collection. Hedwig swooped down and landed on the stack of books in front of Harry, causing him to look up at her.

"Hi, Hedwig." he greeted, smiling.

Hedwig returned the greeting with a screech, as Harry looked back down at the book he was reading from. Tony, on the other hand, folded his arms together on the table, and buried his head into them, groaning.

"That does it, I'm staying away from books during summer break." the Slytherin student declared. "I'm going to have gray hair before I'm thirteen at this rate."

"Less complaining, more studying." Hermione told him.

Tony had been allowed to sit with his Gryffindor friends since they had returned from winter break, but only to study and do school work together. Several of the other Gryffindors were alright with it because of Tony's good deeds in the past, so they gave him no grief about it. Hermione watched as Ron continued to go through his collection, and finally spoke her peace about it.

"Look at you, playing with your cards!" she scolded her Housemate. "Pathetic!"

"Here we go again." grunted Riley.

"We've got final exams coming up soon."

Ron looked up at her, annoyed.

"I'm ready!" he shot back. "Ask me any question!"

Harry, Riley, and Tony looked at each other, smiling, as if they couldn't wait to see how this would turn out.

"Alright, what are the three most crucial ingredients in a Forgetfulness Potion?" challenged Hermione.

Ron looked down at his cards, defeated.

"I forgot." the redheaded boy grumbled.

"And what may I ask do you plan to do if this comes up in the final exam?" asked his Housemate.

"Copy off you!"

"No, you won't! Besides, according to Prof. McGonagall, we're to be given special quills bewitched with an anti-cheating spell."

Tony looked at Harry and Ron, grinning.

"And I believe that would be checkmate." he commented.

Ron glared at him, and the other two males beside them as they laughed, making them shut up, before looking back at Hermione.

"That's insulting!" he complained, outraged. "It's as if they don't trust us!"

"Ron, what was your answer to Hermione's question again?" asked Riley.

"Shut up, Riley. Dumbledore again!"

The others watched as he threw down another card, and then they looked up slowly upon hearing thumping noises, followed by their schoolmates' laughter. The students watched as Neville hopped down the Great Hall, his legs glued together by an unseen force.

"Leg-Locker Curse." Ron observed, watching the unlucky boy hop forward.

It didn't take Harry long at all to figure out who was behind the curse placed on their dormmate.

"Malfoy." he guessed.

They and their friends watched as the accident prone boy hopped towards them, then stood in place, trying to keep himself balanced.

"You have got to start standing up to people, Neville." Ron told him.

"I can barely stand at all!" said Neville.

"I could always-" Tony began.

"No." Hermione and Riley spoke at the same time.

"What?"

"Practical jokes won't make Malfoy back off." said Hermione.

Tony folded his arms across his chest, fuming, while Seamus rose to his feet, his wand held out.

"I'll do the countercurse!" he offered, eagerly.

Instantly, Neville, Ron, Riley, and Tony looked very alarmed. Seamus had a way with making things blow up in his face when using magic.

"No, that's all I need!" yelped Neville. "You to set my bloody kneecaps on fire!"

Seamus threw down his wand in anger, as if insulted.

"I don't appreciate the insinuation, Longbottom!" he snapped. "Besides, if anyone cares to notice, my eyebrows have completely grown back!" he added, pointing at his eyebrows.

He stormed off away from them, while Hermione caught sight of the bald spot on the back of his head, and tried her hardest not to laugh. Riley and Tony had seen this, too, and looked at each other.

"Should we tell him?" asked Tony.

"He'll find out on his own." replied Riley.

Meanwhile, Harry, who had been reading the card that Ron had thrown down onto the table moments ago, alerted his friends to something he had found.

"I found him!" he exclaimed, nudging Ron on the arm.

Ron took the card from him and began to read it aloud.

"'Dumbledore's particularly famous for things he has defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945,'" he read.

"Go on." Harry said, eagerly.

"'For the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel'!"

"So all we had to do was look at a card from a piece of candy?" asked Tony.

"I knew the name sounded familiar!" said Harry. "I read it on the train that day!"

Hermione quickly gathered up her stuff, and told the other four to follow her. The three Gryffindors and the Slytherin quickly got to their feet, and gathered their belongings, then chased after her down the hall.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?!" Neville asked, turning to face where they were heading. "What about the countercurse?!"

The boy then tumbled over, causing the others around him to laugh. A pair of running footsteps echoed into the Great Hall as Riley rushed back towards him.

"Sorry, Neville." he apologized, as he held out his wand.

He made three counterclockwise circles with his wand, then pointed it at Neville. Neville sighed with relief as his legs were freed from the curse, and watched as his fellow Gryffindor take off again.

"Thanks!" he called.

* * *

"I had you two looking in the wrong section!" exclaimed Hermione.

She strode towards the table where her four friends were seated, a heavy book in her hands.

"How could I have been so stupid?!" the female student wondered aloud.

Her four friends all jumped as the book was set onto the wood with a heavy thud, then Hermione casually sat down across from Harry, Ron, and Riley beside Tony, and opened the book to skim through the pages.

"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." she explained.

The four boys looked at the book in surprise, and Ron spoke the words that his friends were thinking.

" _This_ is light?" he asked, stunned.

"In Hermione's point of view, maybe." replied Riley.

Hermione paused in her skimming to glare at each of them for a moment, then finally stopped at one page, and started scanning for what she was looking for. Then suddenly she let out a gasp.

"Of course! Here it is!" she announced, excitedly. "Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone."

"The what?" Harry and Ron asked, simultaneously.

"Honestly, don't you two read?"

Hermione looked at the page, and started to read what was on it.

"'The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers,'" she read. "'It'll transform any metal into pure gold, and produce the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.'"

"'Immortal'?" Ron repeated.

"It means you'll never die."

"I know what it means!"

Harry and Tony quickly shushed them, allowing the sole female of the group to continue reading.

"'The only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist who last year celebrated his 665th birthday.'" she concluded.

"'665th'." Riley breathed, stunned. "I lived for that long, I would've been driven bonkers."

"The point is that that's what Fluffy's guarding on the Third Floor. That's what's under the trap door. The Sorcerer's Stone."

The five students looked at one another in silence for a long moment, then Riley dared to ask the question that was on his mind for a while now.

"Okay, so, now that we know about this thing, what do we do now?" he asked.

"I don't know." replied Hermione. "Just keep this information to yourselves."

"Okay, my turn to ask a question, why would anyone create something so powerful?" asked Tony.

"That's honestly a good question." agreed Ron.

Later at night, that very same day, Riley was asleep on his bed, with Bubba sleeping on his stomach, and a Justice League comic book gripped in one arm. Suddenly, Prof. McGonagall burst into the room, looked around, then stormed over to the boy's bedside, shaking his shoulder.

"Mr. Cross! Wake up, Mr. Cross!" she barked.

The comic-addicted child bolted up into a sitting position, causing Bubba to jump off of him in shock. Riley moaned tiredly as he rubbed at his closed eyelids, apparently having been nearly dead asleep.

"I'm awake." he grumbled, sleepily. "What time is it?"

"It's past midnight, Cross," Prof. McGonagall told him, sharply. "Where are Potter, Weasley, and Granger?"

"Sleeping, ma'am."

"I don't see them!"

"They're right over..."

Riley turned to point at Harry's and Ron's beds, only to find they were empty.

"...there." he finished, in a weak whisper.

"Go back to sleep, Mr. Cross." Prof. McGonagall ordered, as she hurried for the door. "Sorry for disturbing you."

She left quickly, leaving the half-awake student behind to stare blankly ahead for a moment. Riley then looked at Bubba, who was licking his paw for a moment to clean his face, and shook his head.

"Oh, boy." he muttered.

The dark-haired boy stood up, grabbed a stack of his comics, and his Walkman and some cassette tapes, then marched to the common room to wait for his friends. After what felt like ages, Riley fell asleep once again, while listening to his music player, then suddenly felt someone shaking his shoulder again, and smacked at the hand doing so.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he yelped, sitting up straight.

He yawned loudly, then opened his eyes to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing before him, dressed in their school robes.

"What are you doing down here?" asked Ron.

"Prof. McGonagall came up to the common room a little bit ago and asked me where you guys were, then she left, I decided to wait down here, now you're here and asking me why I'm down here, and that's the end of the story." replied Riley. "Now, mind telling me what in the world you three were up to?"

"We went to pay Hagrid a visit, and told him what we know," explained Hermione. "We're sorry we didn't tell you or Tony, but too many of us would've attracted more attention, and lost us more points. We just lost us 150 pts. for our little trip, and went into the Dark Forest with Hagrid as punishment."

"On the bright side, Malfoy's skin looks more pale than his own greasy hair." said Ron.

Riley stared between the two for a moment, then looked at Harry.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Not exactly." replied Harry. "Wait'll you three hear this."

Hermione took a seat on the chair nearby the fire, while Ron and Riley sat on the couch in front of the fire, and Harry stood in front of them, pacing back and forth, explaining what had happened when the group was separated in the Dark Forest, and what he had learned. From his, Draco's, and Fang's encounter with the hooded figure drinking the blood from a freshly killed unicorn, to Firenze saving him and warning him. By the time the dark-haired boy was finished, his audience sat in their seats in a stunned silence for a long moment.

"You mean You-Know-Who is out there right now in the Forest?" asked Hermione.

"But he's weak." Harry reminded her. "He's living off the unicorns."

"Ugh. Hello, nightmare fuel." grimaced Riley.

"Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself, he wants it for Voldemort. With the Elixer of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll...He'll come back."

Harry collapsed in the chair across from where Hermione was sitting, then Ron spoke up.

"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to...kill you, do you?" he asked, worriedly.

"Depends on how Voldemort operates." replied Riley.

"Get that from your comic books, did you?"

"...Yes. I don't know this creep well enough to figure out if he's more like Lex Luthor or more like Darkseid."

"Cut it out with the comic book characters already! You're the only one who knows what you're talking about!"

Harry and Hermione glanced at one another, as their friends started to argue, then the latter picked up a pillow and threw it at them.

"Look, if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight." Harry spoke, once his friends stopped arguing.

Ron gulped, looking more worried.

"And to think I've been worrying about my Potions final." he whispered.

"Hang on a minute, we're forgetting one thing." announced Hermione. "Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"

The three boys looked at each other, confused for a moment, then Riley raised his hand.

"Dumbledore?" he guessed.

"Right. As long as Dumbledore is around, Harry, you're safe." Hermione agreed, looking at Harry. "As long as Dumbledore is around, you can't be touched."

The three boys around her nodded in agreement, and were able to go to bed, with that bit of reassuring good news.

* * *

As the chapter title suggests, the plot does indeed thicken. I told you guys I'd update sooner than before. I'll try to do it again and for the rest of my fanfics as well. I think we can all agree that writer's block is a total drag though, but I digress. The story continues in the next chapter, so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	9. The Final Word

Chapter Nine: The Final Word

Some time passed, and finally, it was just a few more days before school ended for summer break. The students had finally finished with their final exams, and now were enjoying a peaceful afternoon in the sunshine. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and Tony walked outside to get some fresh air after finishing their last exam. Hermione and Riley seemed to be the more cheerful of the bunch, Ron and Tony appeared to be mentally exhausted from the whole ordeal, while Harry looked to be in pain.

"My brain is about to explode." Tony groaned, exhasperated. "I never want to see another book again."

He saw Riley taking a comic book from his backpack, then flip it open to read it, and glared at him.

"You torment me." the Slytherin student growled.

"I'd always heard Hogwarts' final end of year exams were frightful," Hermione stated, brightly. "But I found them rather enjoyable."

"Speak for yourself!" exclaimed Ron.

He then noticed that Harry appeared to be irritated. The spectacled boy rubbed at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, his expression fixed in one of great pain.

"Alright there, Harry?" Ron asked, concerned.

"My scar, it keeps burning." replied Harry.

"It's happened before." Hermione pointed out.

"Not like this."

"You should see the nurse." suggested Ron.

"But what's causing it to hurt on and off like this?" asked Tony.

"I think it's a warning," Harry described, thoughtfully. "It means danger's coming."

He gave another grunt of pain as he rubbed at his throbbing forehead, while his friends watched, growing more and more concerned.

"'Danger', huh?" muttered Riley. "But what kind?"

"Snape?" guessed Ron.

"Ron, I hate to burst your bubble, but if that were true, Harry's scar would be burning everyday."

"Fair enough."

"You think it could be because of You-Know-Who then?" asked Hermione.

"Now that seems a little more believable." replied Tony.

Harry wasn't really listening to the conversation, his attention had been grabbed by the sound of a flute playing. He looked across the green grass field, towards a small hut that stood in front of the massive forest, where Hagrid was sitting on a porch, playing a wooden flute. The young Gryffindor's friends followed his gaze, and saw what he was looking at.

"Hey, that's Hagrid!" exclaimed Riley.

"Man, is that his house?" asked Tony. "That looks so cool!"

"Of course." breathed Harry.

His friends looked at him, confused, as they followed him towards the hut.

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger just happens to have one?" Harry explained, as the group marched. "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pocket?"

"So, they made an offer Hagrid couldn't refuse in a sense?" Tony guessed, catching onto what Harry was saying.

"Exactly! Why didn't I see it before?"

Hagrid halted in his flute-playing when he saw the five students approaching him, and lowered his wooden instrument.

"Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg?" asked Harry. "What did he look like?"

"I don't know, I never saw his face." replied Hagrid. "He kept his hood up."

"This stranger though, you and he must have talked."

"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after. I said 'after Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem'."

"Was he interested in Fluffy?"

"Of course he was interested in Fluffy, how often do you come across a three-headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him, I said, 'the trick with any beast is to know how to calm him'. Take Fluffy for example. Just play him a bit of music, and he falls straight to sleep."

Hagrid paused when he saw the looks on the students' faces, and immediately regretted what he said.

"I shouldn't have told you that." he realized.

Riley and Tony remained behind while Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed off back to the castle, and Hagrid called after them. The half-giant glanced between the two students that stayed behind, and finally Tony spoke.

"Well, at least I can look my father in the eye and tell him this year, I didn't magically hex a teacher's pants down." he cracked.

This caused Hagrid to stare at him, and Riley simply smacked his friend upside the head, making him yell in pain.

"What was that for?!" demanded Tony.

"Figure it out, Tony." Riley snapped, dragging his friend off back to the castle. "We're sorry, Hagrid!"

Hagrid weakly waved farewell to the two boys as they ran off, then let out a weary sigh.

* * *

Riley and Tony hurried down the corridors, looking for where their friends had gone, then spotted them inside Prof. McGonagall's classroom, talking to her. The two of them entered the room, as the two sides conversed, and saw that Prof. McGonagall had appeared to be quite serious.

"...Now would you go back to your dormitories?" Prof. McGonagall whispered, sternly. "Quietly."

She looked up at Riley and Tony, who stood there, confused.

"And you two as well." she ordered.

Riley and Tony looked at one another, even more confused, then followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the classroom again.

"That was no stranger Hagrid met, it was Snape." Harry whispered to his friends. "He knows how to get past Fluffy."

As he talked, Tony noticed that Prof. Snape was walking towards them, and thought fast of a way to warn the young Gryffindor in time.

"Hi, professor!" he greeted, once his Head of House was in earshot.

Harry looked at him, confused, for a moment, then saw his Housemates were following his gaze, and slowly turned around to see Prof. Snape standing behind him.

"Good afternoon." the potions teacher greeted. "Now what would one of my Slytherins, and four young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?"

"A page fell out of Riley's comic book and we're helping him find it." Tony explained, calmly.

Prof. Snape studied him and the Gryffindors for a moment, as if wondering if he was telling the truth or not.

"I see, well, you ought to be careful," he said, finally. "People will think you're...up to something."

Harry and Prof. Snape exchanged a glance for a moment, then the latter took off back down the way he came. Ron patted Tony on the shoulder as he let out the breath he was holding, and Riley looked at Harry.

"I hate to point out the obvious, but I think he's onto us." he stated.

"You're right." agreed Harry.

"Now what do we do?" asked Hermione.

"We go down the trap door. Tonight."

* * *

Apologies for the short chapter. It's the calm before the storm, people, and next up, the guys get moving to take on Voldemort and his co-hort. Stay tuned, I'll update soon.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	10. Into the Darkness

Chapter Ten: Into the Darkness

Harry, now dressed in a red sweater, that he had gotten from Mrs. Weasley, and a pair of blue jeans and his sneakers, looked at his two fellow dormmates, who had also finished getting dressed. Ron now sported a flannel shirt over a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans himself, while Riley wore an open brown leather vest over his blue t-shirt with a red and yellow Superman symbol on it, a pair of dark blue sweatpants, and his brown work boots.

"Are you two ready?" the former asked.

"I'm ready." said Ron.

"Me, too." agreed Riley.

"Good, let's get Hermione and Tony."

Riley picked up his school bag and followed his fellow Gryffindors out of the boys' dormitory. As they did so, Hermione, now dressed in a colorful button-up sweater and a black skirt and shoes, just stepped out of her dormitory as well. They walked down the spiral staircase and started to head for the Slytherin dungeons to pick up Tony. Once reaching the common room, they heard a soft croaking, causing the four sets of eyes to fall on Trevor the toad, who was seated on the arm of a chair.

"Trevor." breathed Harry.

"Trevor! Shoo! Go!" hissed Ron. "You shouldn't be here!"

To the quartet's great surprise, Neville poked his head out from the side of the chair.

"Neither should you." he announced.

He stood up and faced his friends, bravely, but also timidly.

"You're sneaking out again, aren't you?" he asked.

"Neville, listen, we were-We were-" Harry started, pleadingly.

"No! I won't let you! You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again! I-I-I-I'll fight you!"

The others watched as he put up his fists, appearing to be ready to truly fight them if it came to it. Then Hermione took out her wand.

"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this." she apologized. " _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

Before any of the Gryffindor males knew it, Neville's body froze up, his arms suddenly stuck to his sides like they were magnetized, and his legs seemed to fuse together. Within seconds, he had fallen over, not making a sound except for the thud. Ron merely gulped as Hermione casually returned her wand to her pocket.

"You're a little scary sometimes, you know that?" Ron spoke, amazed. "Brilliant. But scary."

"You're now noticing?" asked Riley.

"Let's go." said Harry.

Neville watched in horror as his four Housemates piled out of the common room through the portrait, muttering their apologies to him.

* * *

Tony stood outside of the stone wall passageway, dressed in a black and white baseball button-up shirt over a white t-shirt and a pair of black slacks with black and white Van sneakers, and waited for his companions to show up. He did not, however, count on them showing up unseen.

"Tony!" hissed Ron.

Tony looked around for the source of the sound, until he felt a hand clap his shoulder, and forced himself to hold in the scream that yearned to come out of his mouth. Harry's head suddenly appeared in front of him, causing Tony to stare, surprised.

"Wow, how'd you do that?" he asked.

"Invisibility cloak, no time to explain." replied Harry. "Get under here."

Tony did so, and the five of them started moving through the castle to the third floor. They made sure not to make any noise, or at least tried not to.

"Ow!" hissed Hermione. "You stood on my foot!"

"Sorry." whispered Ron.

A torch lit up as the five children approached their destination, then Hermione took out her wand.

" _Alohomora._ " she whispered, pointing the wand at the handle.

The lock disengaged, and she pulled the door open. The quintet were greeted with the sounds of melodic harp-playing and multiple sounds of loud snoring.

"Wait a minute,...he's..." Harry observed, as the middle head's snoring blew the cloak off of him and his friends. "...snoring."

"Aww, they're so cute when they're not about to rip us to shreds." said Riley.

"Focus, Riley." Tony told him.

Harry looked around the room, then saw a harp standing nearby, it's strings being plucked by an invisible force.

"Snape's already been here." he pointed out. "He's put a spell on the harp."

"Ugh, it's got horrible breath." Ron commented, as the group moved in closer.

"We have to move it's paw."

"What?"

"Come on!"

Harry, Ron, and Tony worked together to gently shift the three-headed dog's paw away from the trapdoor. Then just as they pulled the trapdoor open, the music died down, and the room became almost completely quiet.

"I'll go first," Harry told the others. "Don't follow until I give you a sign. If something bad happens, get yourselves out."

Riley nodded in agreement, then noticed that the three heads of Fluffy had woken up, their eyes now fixed on him and the other kids.

"Harry." he whispered, urgently.

"Not now, Riley." said Harry.

"Harry."

"Riley, be quiet!"

Then his eyes narrowed, as if realizing the music had stopped playing.

"Does it seem a bit...quiet to you?" he asked.

He, Hermione, Ron, and Tony looked back to see that the harp had stopped playing.

"The harp, it stopped playing." observed Hermione.

As they turned back forward, Ron felt something wet drop down onto his shoulder, and saw something gooey dripping down his shirt.

"Ugh! Yuck!" he grimaced.

"Harry!" shouted Riley.

Harry turned to look at him, and saw he was looking upwards, causing him and the others to follow his gaze. The three heads were glaring down at him, growling ferociously.

"Jump!" shouted Harry.

He leapt in first, followed by Tony, Hermione, and then Ron, just as the center head tugged on the trapdoor, yanking it off the hinges, and threw it into the wall. The four of them landed in a dark room, but what they landed on was a mystery.

"Whoa, lucky this plant thing is here, really." said Ron.

"Oh, my God," Hermione gasped in realization. "Where's Riley?!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, terrified, and then up at the trapdoor.

"Riley!" called Harry.

"Scream if you're alive, Ry!" shouted Ron.

"Riley!" Tony screamed, worriedly.

"I think we've got bigger problems to deal with right now." said Hermione. "Look!"

Harry noticed that the tendrils behind Ron had started to shift around, causing him to scoot back in shock.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed.

As the four kids started to move, they felt something wrap around their bodies tightly. The four kids started to struggle hard to free themselves, while above the trapdoor, Riley backed against the wall as Fluffy moved towards him, still growling. Riley took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards the three-headed canine. The center head leaned in to sniff it cautiously a few times, then one by one, the other two heads sniffed at the boy's hand. A second later, Riley felt one of the canine heads leaning down to lick his face.

"Mom was right, dogs can tell a good person from bad just by avoiding prolonged eye contact with them, and smelling their hand." he chuckled, as he reached up to pet the dog. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good puppy?"

Underneath the room, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Tony were still struggling with the plant-like attacker who was still entangling the four children in it's tendrils. Suddenly, Hermione's face lit up, and she looked at the other three with her who were still trying to break free.

"Stop moving, the three of you!" she told them. "This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't it will only kill you faster."

"'Kill us faster'?!" repeated Ron. "Oh, now I can relax!" he added, sarcastically.

Hermione shot him a look just as she started sinking down into the ground, much to the horror of her friends.

"Hermione!" the three boys called.

"Now what are we gonna do?!" Ron asked, horrified.

"First Riley, now Hermione, I'm just about done with this place!" Tony screamed, panickedly. "I promise if I get out of this alive, I'll watch who I tease from now on! If Riley were still alive, I'd never complain about his love for superhero comics again, I'll never pull pranks unless the situation completely calls for it!"

"Just relax!" Hermione's voice called out to them.

Harry looked around for the source of the noise.

"Hermione, where are you?!" he asked.

"Do what I say!" Hermione shouted back. "Trust me!"

"I'm gonna die by a plant. I'm gonna die by a plant." Tony chanted, quickly. "I'm gonna probably have a heart attack in the midst of it, but I'm gonna die by a plant."

"Shut up already, Tony." Riley's voice spoke from above them.

Harry, Ron, and Tony watched as Riley jumped down in the center of the ground, appearing unharmed.

"How are you still alive?!" asked Ron.

"I'll explain later, just remain calm." replied Riley.

He felt the tendrils of the plant now ensnare him, but kept calm.

"Riley! Riley!" shrieked Tony.

"Tony, listen, just think happy thoughts, and take deep breaths." Riley instructed him.

Tony did so, and he began sinking down a little bit after Riley himself did.

"Riley!" shouted Harry.

"Tony, come back!" Ron called out.

Harry closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm himself, then felt himself sinking into the ground as well, much to Ron's horror.

"Ah! Harry!" the latter screamed.

Harry collapsed to the ground in another room beside Hermione, Riley, and Tony, who were standing up by the wall. Hermione was rubbing at her sore wrist, while Riley rocked back and forth on his heels, and Tony was leaning forward with his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"Are you okay?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, I'm fine." replied Harry.

Above them, Ron was screaming non-stop for help.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" asked Hermione.

"Apparently not." sighed Harry. "Riley, how were you able to relax? We thought Fluffy mauled you up there."

"My mom's a veterinarian." Riley explained, looking at his friends. "We used to work with strays, and she taught me a few tricks. You show a dog you're trustworthy by letting them sniff your hand, and not make eye contact for too long."

"I don't think that'll work in this situation though." Tony told them.

"He's right, we've gotta do something." said Hermione.

"What?" asked Harry.

Hermione then began to wrack her brain for some kind of solution.

"I remember reading something in Herbology,...um..." she muttered to herself. "'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare. It's deadly fun,...but will sulk in the sun'! That's it, Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" she added, her expression brightening considerably.

The female Gryffindor thrusted her wand toward the massive plant, quickly.

" _Lumos Solem!_ " she spoke the incantation.

A bright light shone from her wand, nearly blinding the occupants of the room, and suddenly Ron fell to the ground beside his friends, screaming.

"Ron, you okay?" asked Harry.

He and Hermione knelt beside the redhead, who slowly got back up to his feet.

"Yeah." the latter spoke. "Whoo! Lucky we didn't panic, and Riley's still alive, I see."

"Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology, and Riley picked up a few good tricks from his mother." Harry told him.

The room became filled with silence, then the five kids heard soft fluttering sound coming from behind a nearby door.

"What is that?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know." Harry answered, slowly moving towards the door. "Sounds like wings."

Ron reached out and grabbed Harry's shoulder to stop him.

"Uh, let's have Riley go first." he suggested, nodding at the brown-haired boy behind them. "If it is another animal, maybe Riley can handle that one."

"Gee, thanks a lot." said Riley.

He stepped forward and opened the door to lead his friends into the next room. Above them, there were tiny, thin objects flying high into the air, shining brightly in the moonlight.

"Curious." said Hermione. "I've never seen birds like these."

"Neither have I." agreed Tony.

"They're not birds," whispered Harry. "They're keys, and I'll bet one of them fits that door."

As they walked further into the moonlight, they spotted a lone broomstick floating above the stone floor in the center of the light.

"What's this all about?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know." replied Harry.

Ron then withdrew his wand from his pocket, and moved toward the door, with Hermione behind him.

"Strange." Harry breathed, as he reached out towards the broomstick.

"I'll say. First a giant three headed dog guarding the entrance, then the Devil's Snare, now this." Tony commented, ticking off the list on his fingers. "What gives? It's like they're all..."

"Tests of some sort." Riley realized, smiling. "Harry's right, we need one of those keys."

"Or Hermione could use-"

" _Alohomora!_ " Ron's voice shouted.

Harry, Riley, and Tony looked at the door to see Ron trying to open the door with the same spell he learned from Hermione.

"That plan failed." Tony muttered, pushing his hair back against his head.

"Well, it was worth a try." said Ron.

Hermione gave a strangled growl of frustration, as she and Ron turned back to look at the swarm of keys in the air.

"What are we going to do?!" she groaned. "There must be a thousand keys!"

"But maybe there's one that's not like the other!" Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Like one of those games in the puzzle book!"

"Okay, so, we want a big, old-fashioned one." Ron suggested. "Probably rusty, like the handle."

"There, I see it!" shouted Harry. "The one with the broken wing!"

He pointed up at the swarm of keys, and sure enough, there was one key that was floating around a little more slowly than the rest because of it's bent wing.

"Okay, we found the key." Tony announced, looking around at his friends. "Now who wants to volunteer to get it down?"

"Don't look at me, I hate heights." Riley declined, quickly.

"Superman would-"

"Tony, didn't you say if you and Riley lived through that little situation with the Devil's Snare that you would never pick on him about his love for comic books again?" Hermione reminded the Slytherin student.

"...Man." sighed Tony.

Harry looked back down at the broomstick, his eyes narrowing in realization.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"It's too simple." replied Harry.

"Oh, go on, Harry." Ron encouraged him. "If Snape could catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest Seeker in a century!"

Harry nodded, and slowly reached out to grab the broomstick. However, the moment he gripped it, almost all of the keys sped down towards him and started circling around him like gnats. Riley and Tony quickly ducked away towards Ron and Hermione, startled from the sudden attack.

"I thought they were keys, not heat-seekers!" yelped Tony.

"This complicates things a bit." said Ron.

The four friends watched as Harry flew into the air through the swarm of keys, chasing after the damaged one. After a few minutes, Harry had finally grabbed onto the key with the broken wing, and started spiraling towards his friends.

"Catch the key!" he shouted.

The key was thrown down towards his friends, and Hermione jumped up to grab it. She hurried back to the door to unlock it, while Ron and Tony shouted for her to hurry up. Harry circled around in the air for a bit to buy some time for his friends to unlock the door, and saw it was swung wide open for him to get through. He flew down on the broomstick, and zoomed through the door while Riley and Tony shut the door behind him. The sounds of tiny objects hammering against the door followed a second after the door shut.

"Good work, team." said Tony.

"What's the next challenge, drinking poison?" asked Ron.

"Thanks, Ron." muttered Harry.

The five friends marched down the stone path until they came at an intersection. The path now divided into two hallways.

"What's the plan now?" asked Ron.

He and the others looked from the right hallway to the left, trying to figure out which way to go. Then Tony stepped forward, and looked at his friends.

"We should split up." he announced. "Ry and I will go right, you guys go left."

"That's a dangerous idea!" objected Hermione.

"Well, we all knew what we were risking coming down here, didn't we?"

Harry looked at the ground for a moment, nodding in agreement.

"He's right." he agreed. "We'll meet up with you in a bit."

"Right." said Riley.

He and Tony walked down the path on the right, while Harry led Ron and Hermione down the left hallway, all five praying silently that the others would be safe.

* * *

To make up for the short chapter, I've decided to update again. Okay, there are two chapters remaining now. They've made it past the guard dog, they've survived the Devil's Snare, and they've succeeded in getting through the room with the killer winged keys. What challenges await the kids next? Find out in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	11. Separate Paths

Chapter Eleven: Separate Paths

Riley and Tony continued their way down the hall, both trying to stay as quiet as possible in case they ran into anyone suspicious or otherwise. Upon finally reaching the other room, the two boys stopped in the center of the room in confusion.

"Okay, now where are we?" asked Tony.

"Don't know." replied Riley.

He then saw some carvings on the wall in front of them, and nudged his best friend.

"Tony, look." he said.

Tony looked up at the wall, and his eyes narrowed in confusion and surprise. The wall was covered in odd markings that seemed to have been carved out like words on a paper. Riley quickly took out a book, and started flipping through the pages, much to his friend's confusion.

"What are you doing?" the Slytherin boy asked.

"Remember the symbols from the tombs our dads let us explore? Same thing." Riley explained, without looking up from the book. "These are runes. We've also seen these in Deran's books."

"I guess all that research paid off after all then. Don't tell Hermione I said that."

Tony watched as his friend scanned the pages, occasionally looked up at the wall again, then repeated the process a few more times. Then the Gryffindor student closed the book.

"It's a riddle." he concluded.

"A riddle?" repeated Tony. "Another test?"

"'We hurt without moving. We poison without touching. We bear the truth, and the lies. We are not judged by our size. What are we?'"

"That is a good question. What does that?...Cyanide? A potion?"

"Liquids move and touch, Tony."

Tony sat back against the wall, and slunk to the ground, groaning.

"Come on, brain!" he shouted, slapping himself on the side of the head. "Work!"

Riley paced back and forth for a few minutes, then stomped his foot onto the ground in frustration.

"We need Hermione for this one, she'd have the answer." he declared.

"Or Malfoy," joked Tony. "He'd demand the wall to answer him, or he'd tell his father."

"After he's done calling us 'Mudbloods'. Who thought up that stupid name anyway? It doesn't make any sense."

"Talking trash because we're not pure bloods like him, saying our blood is a hazard to their kind. I've heard of words being weapons, but not blood."

Riley chuckled in agreement, then his laughter died down. He frowned a little, as in deep thought, and the gears in his head began to turn. Something about what Tony said had made sense.

"'Words being weapons'." he repeated, softly. "Words."

The wall suddenly started to pull upwards toward the ceiling, and Tony got to his feet, smiling surprised.

"Tony, you're a genius!" laughed Riley.

"Huh, I'll have to give Malfoy a bit of credit for this one." Tony said, stunned.

"C'mon, let's see if we can meet up with Harry and the others."

The two of them shot off down through the passageway, hoping to meet up with their friends, until they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. As the exit came nearer and nearer, the boys slowed down to a quiet walk, and began to hear voices.

"...Come here, Potter!" a familiar voice shouted. "Now!"

The two boys looked at one another, nervously, the continued to creep forward through the tunnel. They walked until they found themselves at the end of the tunnel, leading to a staircase.

"How can we see anything without the bad guy noticing us?" Tony asked, in a hushed voice.

Riley quietly took off his backpack, and searched through it to pull out a small compact mirror.

"Isn't that your mom's?" asked Tony.

"Shut up, and hold it up around the corner." Riley responded, shoving the mirror into his hands. "Mom said it's like a pedestrian's rearview mirror. Comes in handy when you're dealing with stalkers, strangers, that sort of thing."

"...Sweet."

Tony held it up around the corner, and saw a glimpse of Harry standing in front of a taller mirror, with Prof. Quirrell beside him. The mirror Harry was in front of looked incredibly ancient.

"It's Harry." whispered Tony.

"And Ron and Hermione?" asked Riley.

"Only other person that's there is Prof. Quirrell."

"So, he's after the Stone. I should've known after he tried to knock Harry off his broom."

"But what about Prof. Snape, and Halloween night?"

"Questions for later. What are they saying?"

Tony looked into the small mirror, and saw Harry gripping his side pocket, which seemed to bulge a little.

"Riley, besides his wand, was Harry carrying anything else when we all came here?" the former asked.

"No." replied Riley.

"He lies." a strange, foreign voice hissed.

The Muggleborn wizards jumped a little, and looked at each other.

"Did you say something?" asked Tony.

"I was hoping that was you." replied Riley.

"Tell the truth!" barked Prof. Quirrell. "What do you see?!"

"Let me speak to him." the new voice hissed again.

Riley and Tony pressed their backs against the wall now, looking freaked out.

"Superboy, I don't know what's going on here, but I think Harry might be in trouble." Tony decided, trying to remain calm.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" asked Riley.

"I have strength enough for this." the mysterious voice had spoken.

"Jump Quirrell, get Harry, and get the hell out of here." Tony declared, looking at his friend with a smile.

"I like that plan." Riley nodded, smiling back. "Let's do it."

"Good. You go first."

Riley looked up at his friend, alarmed.

"I'm not going out there!" he hissed, pointing towards the stairs.

"I'll be right behind you," Tony reassured him. "By a good few inches."

"You're the one who came up with the plan!"

The two friends' argument was then halted, when they heard the voice speak once again. This time, however, it was a little louder than before.

"Harry Potter," it greeted, eerily. "We meet again."

"'Again'?" repeated Tony. "So Harry knows this guy?"

Suddenly, what he had heard from Harry, Ron, and Hermione the night they came back from their first detention together echoed into his mind once again. He had a good idea who that voice belonged to.

"Oh, God." gasped Riley. "That's Voldemort."

"The guy who tried to kill Harry?" Tony whispered, looking at him. "That Voldemort?"

"Yeah. Harry said he was back. He was in the Forbidden Forest."

Tony stared at him in horror, while Voldemort continued to talk to Harry.

"See what I have become? See what I must do to survive?" it spoke. "Live off another, a mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can, something that conveniently enough...lies in your pocket!"

That was enough for the two boys to rush out of the hidden corridor and down the stairs to get to their friend.

"Harry, c'mon!" shouted Tony.

Harry turned and ran towards him and Riley, while Voldemort's voice ordered for Prof. Quirrell to stop them, followed by the sound of someone snapping their fingers. Then a wall of flames shot up behind where Riley and Tony were standing, causing them to jump in surprise, and tumble down the steps. Once reaching the bottom floor, the two of them pushes themselves up onto their hands and knees, then looked up at Prof. Quirrell. They saw that his turban was removed, but what shocked them most of all was the second face on the back of his head.

"I think I've been reading too many comic books, Tony." Riley stated, stunned.

"You're not imagining things, Riley." Tony agreed. "I see it, too."

"Guys, get back!" Harry shouted at them. "That's Voldemort!"

Not waiting to be told twice, the two eleven year olds shot up to their feet and backed away towards the stairs. Voldemort looked through the mirror at them, and frowned.

"Mudbloods." he spat, disgustedly. "The true parasites."

"And yet we have bodies of our own." cracked Tony.

"You're not going to kill Harry," Riley declared, pointing a finger at Voldemort and Quirrell. "Neither of you! Not so long as we're standing! We stopped you before, Quirrell, we'll do it again!"

"So, it was you two who set fire to Snape's cloak, and broke my eye contact?" asked Prof. Quirrell.

"Yes! Yes, we did!" Tony lied, boldly. "And we'll do it again, too!"

Voldemort remained silent, as he looked up at Harry, who was trying to see a way out of the wall of flames.

"Don't be a fool." he spoke, causing the boy to turn to face him again. "Why suffer a horrific death, when you could join me and live?"

"Never!" Harry responded, shaking his head angrily.

Voldemort merely laughed at him.

"Bravery. Your parents had it, too." he said, arrogantly. "Tell me, Harry, would you like to see your mother and father again? Together we can bring them back."

Harry stared at him, suddenly appearing indecisive.

"Don't listen to him, Harry!" Riley warned him.

"Silence!" commanded Voldemort. "All I ask is for something in return, Harry."

Harry took out a red rock from his pocket, and Riley and Tony stared at it in awe.

"Is that it?" asked Tony.

"The Sorcerer's Stone." breathed Riley. "He found it after all."

"That's it, Harry." Voldemort encouraged Harry. "There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Together we'll do extraordinary things, just give me the Stone!"

Harry looked between the Stone in his hand, and the mirror, as if contemplating the answer. Tony looked at Riley, worriedly. They knew how much their wanted to see his parents again. Then Riley looked up at Voldemort.

"And just how do you plan on bringing his parents back to life?" he asked, bravely. "I've read a lot of books this year, gone through a lot of tutoring, and I haven't found a single thing about how to bring people back from the dead. Otherwise, his parents and the rest of your victims would've been resurrected after your defeat."

Harry looked down at him, as did Tony. Riley was right. Voldemort simply growled, and glared at the young Gryffindor.

"Be quiet, Mudblood!" Voldemort snarled, angrily. "Filthy creatures like you and your friend should learn your place!"

"You're the filthy creature here, you scum of the Earth!" Tony retorted, angrily. "I've seen mummies and other corpses that looked better than you!"

As Voldemort glared at him, Harry looked at his parents' killer.

"You liar!" he shouted.

His would-be killer's face suddenly twisted into an expression of rage.

"Kill him!" the parasite commanded.

Tony and Riley charged at Prof. Quirrell, ready to defend Harry, only to get launched back into separate walls on the opposite sides of the room. Harry didn't have time to react as Prof. Quirrell literally flew towards him and grabbed him by the throat, pushing him against the stairs. He felt the Stone tumble out of his hand, and tried to reach for it, while Prof. Quirrell started to strangle him.

"Harry!" Riley screamed, jumping to his feet.

"We're comin', pal!" Tony shouted, as he leapt up also.

The two boys rushed at Prof. Quirrell and tried to pull him off of their friend.

"Get your filthy hands off of this body, Mudbloods!" snarled Voldemort.

"I'd punch you in the face, but I'm afraid to know what your bite feels like!" said Tony.

"I'd be more worried about him latching onto one of us!" Riley piped up.

Suddenly Prof. Quirrell started to scream in agony, and got up, causing the two Muggleborn boys to release him in confusion. Prof. Quirrell's hand started smoking and turning to stone.

"What happened to him?" asked Tony.

"I don't know, I just grabbed his hand." answered Harry.

"What is this magic?!" screamed Prof. Quirrell.

"Fool! Get the Stone!" ordered Voldemort.

Prof. Quirrell obediently charged towards the boys again, aiming to get the blood red rock behind them.

"Ry, like with the troll!" Tony shouted, looking at his best friend. "Harry, whatever you did, do it again!"

Riley nodded in understanding and they tackled into Prof. Quirrell, stopping him in his tracks, while Harry charged behind them, and grabbed at their attacker's face, pushing him back. As Harry's hands made contact with Prof. Quirrell's face, the latter's face started to smoke and turn to stone as well, while he screamed in agony once again. Harry, Riley, and Tony stepped back to watch their teacher's skin completely change into stone, cracking as it transformed, then stepped back as the professor started to charge at them once again. Fortunately, the body completely crumpled to dust after taking a couple of steps forward. Prof. Quirrell was now dead.

"Neat trick, Harry." Tony complimented his friend, thumping him on the back as he did so.

"I never did that before in my life." Harry told him.

"Then I guess you had the element of surprise, very helpful in battle."

"Yeah, but how do we explain all of this to everyone else?" asked Riley.

Tony and Harry looked at him, both wondering the same thing. Then Harry walked back towards the steps and picked up the fallen Sorcerer's Stone.

"Where are Hermione and Ron anyway?" asked Tony.

"After the giant chess match, Ron got hurt and Hermione had to take him back." replied Harry. "I told her to get Dumbledore."

As they talked, Riley slowly turned around when he heard a strange noise. Like a soft hissing. He saw that the cloud of dust from Prof. Quirrell's body starting to rise up, and take shape.

"Harry? Tony?" the brown-haired boy called out, weakly.

His two friends slowly turned around to see what he was looking at, and to the trio's collective surprise, a smoky figure with what looked like Voldemort's face floated above the ground. It let out a roar, and charged straight at Harry. Harry gave a frightened shout as a gust of wind suddenly blew into him and his friends, and Voldemort's ghost plowed through his chest, making him stumble backwards onto the concrete flor. Riley and Tony watched as the ghost flew around the room, then through the wall of flames, never to be seen again. They looked behind them and saw that Harry was laying on the floor, unconscious, then rushed to his side.

"Harry!" yelped Tony. "Talk to us!"

"He's out like a light," said Riley. "We better get him to the hospital wing."

"How? We'd be burned alive."

Riley shook his head at him, then rose to his feet, and whipped out his wand.

"I hope this works." he muttered, facing the wall of flames. " _Aguamenti!_ "

A jet of water shot out of the tip of his wand, and hit the fire, dousing it within seconds. Once it was extinguished, Riley pocketed his wand once again, and walked back over to Tony, who had placed one of Harry's arms around his shoulders, and did the same with the latter's other arm before standing up to head back up the stairs through the corridor they came through. They trekked through the room with the riddle, then through the room with the flying keys, until they reached the first room below the Devil's Snare, where a gaping hole was seen from when Hermione helped save Ron's life.

"Okay, pop quiz." Tony announced, jokingly. "How do we get up there?"

"Shout for help?" guessed Riley.

"I don't think anyone would hear us."

"You might be surprised." a new voice rang out from beside them.

Tony and Riley looked at each other, then towards the side of the room, where Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Snape, and a woman in a black and white nurse's uniform were standing.

"Madam Pomfrey will take care of Mr. Potter." said Prof. McGonagall.

Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, conjured up a stretcher, and instructed for the two conscious preteens to set Harry onto it. She then led the stretcher away, leaving Riley and Tony at the mercy of their Heads of Houses.

"Uh, here's the Sorcerer's Stone, sir." Tony spoke, digging into his pocket.

Prof. Snape watched as his student quickly took out the Stone and hand it to him, then pocketed it into his own pocket.

"Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley explained everything up to the point where they got separated from you two, and defeated the chess game I had set up." Prof. McGonagall explained, her tone indicating that she was trying to remain calm. "Would you two mind filling in the blanks?"

"That depends on which name you want us to use: 'You-Know-Who' or...his real name?" answered Riley. "When we solved the riddle in the corridor we headed through, we found Harry standing in front of some mirror, with Prof. Quirrell beside him, and then he took off this turban. The one who tried to kill Harry when he was a baby said he became some kind of parasite, and was attached to Quirrell, on the back of his head."

"Sounds like someone has been reading one too many of his comic books." Prof. Snape mused.

"He's not making this up, professor, it was Voldemort." Tony defended his friend. "And he tried to get Harry to give him the Stone, offering to bring his parents back to life. Harry said no, Quirrell attacked, knocked us into a wall, and tried to strangle Harry. What I don't get though is how Harry did that trick with his hands."

"His hands?" Prof. McGonagall repeated, curiously.

"The moment he touched Quirrell's skin, when Harry himself did, it seemed like he was killing Quirrell. He finally did when Harry grabbed at his face. Quirrell crumpled into dust, then I guess Voldemort's ghost floated up and attacked Harry again before flying away."

Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Snape looked at each other, surprised, then back at their students.

"You two are to report to your Houses." the former ordered, sternly. "Granger has also returned to Gryffindor Tower by now. Weasley will be in the hospital wing for the time being."

Riley and Tony nodded numbly, then walked up the stairs back into the familiar maze of staircases, then stopped at the intersection of the corridors that would lead to their dorms.

"Crazy night, huh, Superboy?" asked Tony.

"See you tomorrow." replied Riley.

"See you."

The two friends separated, and headed off to their Houses. Riley reached the portrait with the Fat Lady at last, and looked up at the woman in the painting.

"Excuse me?" he called out.

"Password?" the Fat Lady said, looking at him.

"Pig Snout."

* * *

After facing an obstacle themselves, the two Muggleborn Wizards help Harry in his second face-off against Voldemort (I'm not counting the event in the Forbidden Forest), and were left to tell their Heads what had happened, while surrendering the Stone to them. Next up, the end of the story. And yes, I am well aware that "Aguamenti" is a higher-level spell.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


	12. Change of Plans

Chapter Twelve: Change of Plans

About three days later, on the last day of school, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and Tony, who were back in their school robes, waited on top of the staircase leading to the Great Hall for Harry to show up. The hero of the school was scheduled for discharge from the hospital that evening, and they decided to go to the End-Of-Year feast together.

"Too bad Slytherin's won the House Cup." groaned Ron. "No offense, Tony." he added, quickly, looking at the Slytherin standing beside him.

"None taken." Tony responded, casually, with a shrug. "It would feel like a victory, if Malfoy wasn't on my team."

"On the bright side, at least he didn't call us by that name for the past few days." Riley reminded him, in an attempt to ease his pain.

He was met with a pair of glares from both of the other two boys, and simply smiled apologetically back at them.

"So, uh, how do you think our parents are going to take to what we did?" Hermione asked, in an effort to change the subject. "There's no doubt our Heads of Houses have told them already."

"That depends on their mood." admitted Riley.

"Yeah." Ron agreed, grimacing.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," declared Tony. "Change my name and move to Australia."

The three Gryffindors around him slowly turned to stare at him, mystified.

"My best friend, everyone." announced Riley.

Tony was about to respond, then his gaze fell forward, a grin slowly forming on his face.

"Speaking of 'friends',..." he said, nodding at the ground floor.

Ron, Hermione, and Riley turned to follow his gaze, and saw Harry walking towards the side of the staircase. His cuts had not healed yet, and his right hand was bandaged up, other than that, he was appeared to be alright.

"Alright there, Ron?" he called up to the red head of the group.

"Alright." answered Ron. "You?"

"Alright. Hermione?"

"Never better." replied Hermione.

"Riley? Tony?"

"Can Superman run faster than a speeding bullet?" asked Riley.

Tony opened his mouth to retort, then waved it off.

"Oy." he groaned.

Harry walked up the steps to join his friends, and they headed off to the Great Hall.

"So, what did I miss?" he asked.

"Slytherin won the House Cup, Malfoy's giving all of us a headache, and almost everybody in the school's been anxiously waiting for you to wake up." Hermione listed, casually. "Everybody knows about what happened in the dungeon."

"Prof. Dumbledore mentioned that. He also said that the Stone has been destroyed."

Instantly, the other four halted in their tracks, stunned.

"It's what?!" they asked.

"Why?!" asked Ron.

"We went through Hell protecting that thing!" added Tony.

"Prof. Dumbledore said that Nicholas Flamel decided that it was best that it be destroyed." answered Harry. "Now there's no chance of Voldemort coming back."

"Please stop saying that name." Ron pleaded, as the group continued to walk down the hallway.

"Voldemort." Tony muttered, smirking.

"Tony, don't you start now."

"Voldemort." Riley piped in, cracking a grin.

"Hermione, I swear, if you go next,-"

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." Hermione reassured him.

"Thank you."

"Voldemort."

"AAH!"

* * *

The Great Hall was filled with the noise of chattering students, and silverware clattering against the dishes. Slytherin House seemed to be the most noisiest, because of their victory for the eighth year in the row. Green and silver banners with the Slytherin snake hung from the enchanted ceiling, and soon, it would be time for Prof. Dumbledore to announce the winner. Prof. McGonagall rapped her silverware against the glass goblet a few times, signaling for the students to quiet down. Prof. Dumbledore rose to his feet, and looked at the students seated at their House tables, ready to give his last speech for the year.

"Another year gone, and now as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding," he announced. "And the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor with 312 points."

He paused to let the students clap for the Gryffindor House, while the Gryffindor students appeared defeated and depressed with their loss. Then the Headmaster of Hogwarts continued.

"In third place, Hufflepuff with 352 points." he spoke, looking at the Hufflepuff table.

The Gryffindors joined in with the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students to applaud for the Hufflepuff House, albeit half-heartedly.

"Second place, Ravenclaw with 426 points." Prof. Dumbledore went on.

All but the Ravenclaw students started to clap now, and then it finally came.

"And in first place, with 472 points, Slytherin House." finished Prof. Dumbledore.

The Slytherin students cheered for their victory, while Tony's applause seemed half-hearted. He hadn't had it in him to cheer, since he was sharing the victory with a House almost full of people who gave people like him a hard time. He dared to glance at Draco Malfoy, who smirked in victory at the Gryffindor table, at the spot where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were seated. What the students didn't know was that Prof. Dumbledore had not finished yet.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin. Well done, Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account." the Headmaster declared, smiling. "And I have a few last minute points to award. To Mr. Anthony Gabriel,..."

Tony tensed up at the mention of his name, and felt everyone's gazes fall on him.

"...despite being in different Houses, he stayed true to himself, he remained loyal to his friends, and came to their aid when the situation called for it, as well as to the aid of others." Prof. Dumbledore continued, smiling at the boy. "I award Slytherin House fifty points."

Tony was suddenly met with applause from his Housemates, aside from Draco and his two friends, but what surprised him most was that the teachers and students from the other Houses. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and several students from the Gryffindor House were clapping for him harder than almost anyone else. Tony looked towards the teacher's tables, and saw Prof. Snape smiling in pride.

"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger,..." Prof. Dumbledore continued, looking at Hermione.

Harry, Ron, and Riley quickly looked at the bushy-haired girl sitting beside Harry, and saw that her face turned a little pink in surprise.

"...for the cool use of intellect when others were in grave peril." the Headmaster continued, smiling. "Fifty points."

The Gryffindor House's applause seemed to be the loudest of all, as Hermione smiled in embarrassment. However, that would not be the end yet.

"Third, to Mr. Ronald Weasley," the Headmaster announced, looking at Ron. "For the best-played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years. Fifty points."

The students broke out into applause again, and Ron's face turned red in embarrassment as his brothers and friends congratulated him.

"Fourth, to Mr. Riley Cross," Prof. Dumbledore went on, looking at Riley now. "For his gentle disposition towards animals in the face of danger, and his kindness and compassion towards others. Fifty points."

Riley grinned sheepishly as he felt Ron clap him on the back, while the rest of the students clapped and cheered for him. He looked back at the Slytherin table and saw Tony clapping hard for him, also grinning.

"Yeah, Superboy!" the Slytherin student cheered, proudly. "That's my best bud over there!"

The cheers died down once again, as the Headmaster glanced down at Harry.

"Fifth, to Mr. Harry Potter," he spoke. "For pure nerve, and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House sixty points."

The cheers of the other students escalated, and Harry felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He cast a casual glance to the side and saw Prof. McGonagall smiling proudly at him. Then his attention was shifted to Hermione, who nudged him urgently.

"We're tied with Slytherin!" she whispered, excitedly.

Sure enough, Gryffindor and Slytherin both had five hundred and twenty two points. Prof. Dumbledore seemed to be aware of that, because he started to speak again.

"And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends." he declared to the students. "I award ten points to Neville Longbottom."

The Gryffindor table burst into cheers again, while Neville remained in his seat, completely caught off guard. A pat on the back brought him back to the real world, as he looked at his classmates. The cheers died down again, awaiting for what was to come next.

"Assuming that my calculations are correct, I believe that a change of decoration is in order." Prof. Dumbledore said, looking at each of his students.

He clapped his hands once, then raised them into the air. The green and silver Slytherin banners flew up a little, then became replaced with scarlet red and gold Gryffindor banners.

"Gryffindor wins the House Cup." the Headmaster announced at last.

The Gryffindor House, the Ravenclaw House, and the Hufflepuff House completely burst into louder cheers than before, and Tony himself dared to clap for Gryffindor's victory. Hagrid's brief cheer was heard among the applause, before he reverted back to the non-biased clapping. The three Houses threw their caps into the air in celebration for Slytherin's defeat, some laying on the floor, momentarily forgotten. Tony glanced beside him and saw Draco looking very displeased about the whole thing, and chuckled. While their House had lost, he felt a little more better about Gryffindor winning.

* * *

The following morning, the students departed to the Hogwarts Express to head for home, and some of the students were saying their last goodbyes. While Harry was finishing having his things put into the train, Tony was looking for an empty compartment for his friends to sit in, Hermione and Ron were waiting for Harry and Riley, and Riley himself was discussing something with Hagrid.

"Don't you forget now, Riley," Hagrid was saying. "You promised."

"I know, believe me, I'm happy to do it." Riley assured him. "Ron and Hermione'll have a heart attack though. I did tell them though."

He hugged the larger half-giant goodbye, then headed back towards his friends, just as Harry was starting to climb on board. Harry paused to see Hagrid waving at him, and turned towards him.

"Come on, Harry." called Hermione.

She stood back by the door, looking at him.

"One minute." Harry told her.

He walked past her over to Hagrid, while Riley climbed on board the train. He and Hermione looked over at Harry and Hagrid, and smiled.

"You know, I don't see why Hagrid doesn't adopt Harry." said Riley. "They act like father and son."

"You're right." Hermione agreed, as she watched Harry hug Hagrid. "It's sweet."

"What is?" asked Ron.

He and Tony walked over to them, looking curious.

"Nothing." responded Riley.

Harry walked back over to his friends after one last talk with Hagrid, and went to board the train as Hermione spoke up.

"Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?" she asked.

"I'm not going home." Harry told her. "Not really."

The five friends headed onboard to find a compartment, the once inside, Harry stuck his head out of the window to wave farewell to his friend, as the train pulled away. The five of them sat down, and enjoyed the ride back home.

"Hey, Riley, what were you and Hagrid talking about anyway?" asked Ron.

"Oh, right, I never told you guys." Riley said, snapping his fingers. "Prof. Dumbledore and Hagrid were impressed that Fluffy took so well to me, that they asked if I could come by and feed him and play with him sometimes when the school year starts again."

His friends stared at him, stunned, while the comic book-loving boy simply stared back at them, and smiled, like it was no big dea.

"You mean you're friends with the school guard dog?" asked Harry.

"Think we could feed him Malfoy?" asked Ron.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him.

The other boys cracked up laughing in response. Then Ron looked at each of his friends.

"What are you all doing this summer?" he asked.

"Checking out the neighboring cities, getting used to living in this country." answered Tony. "And I've gotta get me a broomstick so I can start training. I promise you, next year, I'm gonna be on the Slytherin team. Riley'll be training with me, too."

"Why me?!" Riley demanded, his face going pale.

"'Cause it'll be fun."

Riley and Tony started to argue about whether or not the former would be training with the latter, while their friends laughed at them.

"What about you, Harry? Hermione?" Ron asked, looking at his other two friends.

"It all depends on my parents." replied Hermione.

"Same with my aunt and uncle and cousin." agreed Harry. "It's my first summer back from Hogwarts, and they weren't too thrilled about me attending."

"Maybe you guys can come over this summer, all four of you." offered Ron. "Mum wouldn't mind."

"I am interested in hearing more about your brother's occupation in the dragon business." Tony mused, interested.

"Naturally." muttered Riley.

Hours later, the train pulled into the station at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, where several of the students' parents, aunts, uncles, and guardians were waiting. The students clambered off, and went to get their belongings. As Harry was getting his trunk off of the train onto a trolley, two hands appeared from beside him and helped set the trunk down onto the cart.

"There you go, son." an elderly voice spoke, politely.

Harry looked up to see Neil standing beside him, smiling brightly.

"Thank you." he said.

"Grandpa!" called Riley.

Neil turned to see his grandson rushing towards him and hugging him around the middle.

"There you are, squirt!" he exclaimed, happily.

"I see you've met my friend, Harry Potter." Riley observed, looking at Harry. "Harry, this is my grandpa, Neil."

"You're 'Grandpa Neil'?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I'm the very same grandpa who got Riley his comic books." answered Neil. "Hermione reacted the same way over Christmas. It's very nice to finally meet another of Riley and Tony's friends, I've heard much about you, and Ron."

"Y-You have?"

"Oh, yes. I guess if the boys are going to get themselves into mischief, they might as well do so looking out for their friends. And that's the only time I'm allowing it."

Riley and Tony, who had now joined them, smiled at each other, then looked back at Harry.

"Hopefully we meet up sometime." said Tony.

"I'm sure your aunt and uncle wouldn't mind you being out of their hair every once in a while," agreed Riley. "'specially when you tell them we're Muggles."

"I'll have to ask. I'll write to you guys." Harry promised them.

"Likewise."

* * *

The story has come to an end at last, but the adventure is not over yet. Stay tuned for the sequel, I'll get started as soon as I can, but first, I must update some of my other fanfics.

Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.


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